Kidnapped By A God
by justalil'obsessed
Summary: Everyone knows the Cullen brothers are notorious criminals that can evade conviction at every turn.  Everyone also knows that they always get what they want.  To bad they decide they want Bella and her friends.
1. Chapter 1

There was a bustle of excited commotion thorough out the lunch room when I entered it. I weaved my way through the crowds of people until I could Alice, situated at our usual eating spot, practically bouncing out of her seat.

I sat down across from her, almost nervous, as she turned her "Oh my god I have major gossip!" look onto me. I smiled nervously.

"Hey, Alice." I said, reaching across the table to pluck one of her French fries off of her plate.

"Oh my god Bella I have major gossip!" she gasped.

See. Told ya.

"The Cullen brothers are coming to town!"

I dropped the French fry that were half way to my mouth onto the table.

The Cullen's…. The Cullen's were coming here, to Forks.

What?

"Why on Earth would they possibly want to come to Forks for?" I asked, staring at her with an open mouth and wide eyes.

Alice shrugged and popped a French fry into her mouth. "Well, I think they are going to the surrounding, bigger towns, but I heard they were going to drive by at some point this week. I don't know, I guess they haven't been having too much luck in the bigger cities."

In my moment of open mouthed, shocked silence, Rosalie sat down, sighing, with no food just like myself. "So we need to make sure we are not anywhere out in the open when the Cullen's drop by." She muttered, reaching across the table, much like I had done, to grab some of Alice's food.

"How did everyone know about this except me?" I asked.

The Cullen's were notorious, probably all around the world, for their connections in crime. You want to talk about organized crime, then you talk about the Cullen brothers. You want to figure out how every living person on the planet can know they've broken basically every law and only spent maybe a max of one years in prison, you look to the Cullen family history.

And if you want to figure out the most fucked up family ever, you should take a long look at the Cullen's.

For literally years they have been courting woman like it was the 1800's still. They'd take the woman even if they refused, force them on a few dates, and then dump them maybe a week, sometimes a few days, later. They were major players, those three guys.

Edward, Jasper, and Emmett.

And then there were the woman who refused to go out on even a date with them and the next day, guess who disappears for a few weeks.

Yea, sure, they show up a few hundred miles away like a month later, but you'd have to be stupid not to make the connection. They never said a word either, those scared little fuckers.

It was just creepy, you know? Three men (I don't think I mentioned how ridiculously god like they look) search endlessly for their future wife.

Yeah, you heard me. Their wife. They are so committed to settling down or some shit like that. Weirdo's.

Anyways.

They're coming here. Which means every woman in this state is in danger. Yea, even Rose, Alice, and I. No, I'm not that full of myself to even remotely think he'd look even once at me. But you never knew with those fuck heads of a family.

Like for Christ's sake how did they get away with it? Was it the money? I mean, they were probably one of the richest anywhere, so they could pay off the police officers, right? Or they were good at covering their tracks. I had no idea. I didn't really care, either.

"You know what day they're swinging by?" I asked, picking the fry I dropped on the table and eating it.

"Nope." Rose said absently, looking down to adjust the top of her shirt.

"Who would you guys opt for?" Alice asked, catching both Rose's and mine attention. "You know, out of the three brothers. Which one would you totally have sex with?"

I choked on the fry, causing Rose to slap my harshly on the back so I could cough it up. "Jesus Alice." I coughed. "That shit is tabooed, you know that."

Alice snorted as I glared at her, but when she looked at Rose and saw the same reaction, she sobered up. "Oh come on you guys. We are seventeen years old. They are over twenty. Why on earth would they even notice us?"

I swallowed hard and looked to Rose. "Edward." I said finally, nodding my head. "His hair is fuck me hot."

I blushed and grabbed another fry.

"Emmett." Rose said, nodding her head and grabbing the fry I took out of my hand. "I'm a fan of the muscle.

Alice smiled widely. "I'd either go with Emmett or Jasper. But I think I like Jasper he seems all mysterious and secretive."

I laughed. "Honestly, neither of you would consider Edward?"

"Oh, I'd consider him, definitely." Rose said. "But the question was asked in a way that said you could have any of the three and if I had to choose between the three of them, then I'd take Em."

"Yea, I guess if I had the three of them to choose from then I'd take Jasper." Alice agreed, nodding her head.

I shook my head and stood up. "I'm ditching Calculus for a smoke, care to join me?" I groaned, stretching my back.

"I won't smoke, but I'll join." Alice said.

Little miss perfect.

"Can't." Rose sighed, standing. "Have a test. You know the rules. Can't skip if we have a test, quiz, or a really hot guy in the class."

I laughed and nodded.

The bell ran through the lunch room and Alice and I waved goodbye before moving outside for the last period of the day.

/3/3/3/3/3/3/3/3

The week came.

And the week went.

No notorious silver porches, belonging to the Edward. No signature Jeep of a Mr. Emmett Cullen. No big as Hummer of one Jasper Cullen. We heard they stopped by in Port Angeles with their father Carlisle. Probably doing some business. Next day they moved down to the beach, kind of moving directly around Forks. After the beach, we kind of lost track of them.

We kind of stopped caring, too.

Who gives a shit about the brothers anyways? Sure, they were perfect to look up online when you were horny, if you catch my drift.

Other than that… not really good for anything.

It was Friday.

A full week of every student gossiping about the brothers. Every student looking over their shoulders, even in class, as if they would barge in, in the middle of their class to proclaim their love for them. Yea, some people actually wanted them to ask them out.

Sick fucks.

Alice and Rose were coming over my place tonight. We were going to crank out a few projects since yes, we liked to skip, but no, we did not like to watch our grades plummet to the fucking floor.

We had ambition, believe it or not.

They had crammed themselves into my piece of shit truck and we were chugging along just fine until the god damn thing made some sound that vibrated through our seats.

"Oh shit." I swore, and pulled the damn thing onto the dirt shoulder where it spluttered and died. "Aw the mother fucker!"

I got out of the truck and slammed the rusting red door shut. It made a metallic clang as it closed and the entire frame seemed to rock. "You stupid piece of shit!" I yelled, and kicked the tire.

I moved to the front of the car and opened the hood. A plume of smoke shot out and smashed me right in the face. I choked on it and stumbled back, letting the hood fall. I fell to one knee and gasped for breath.

"Bella, come on inside the truck its cold out!" Alice called from the door she opened.

I stood to my feet again and propped the hood open, this time making sure my face was clear of the smoke cascading off of the jumbled mess of wires and tubes and metal.

I groaned and took a step back. I don't know why I even bothered looking. The entire thing looked like shit, how could I figure out what looked more like shit than the other things? I screamed in frustration and kicked the truck again.

I screamed swears between each kick, my foot having gone numb a long time ago.

"Stupid!"

Kick.

"Piece!"

Kick.

"Of!"

Kick.

"Shit!"

Kick.

Kick.

Kick.

"Start the fuck up!" I yelled.

"Bella!" Rose snapped. I looked up at her, looking at me with raised eyebrows.

"Get out of the car, we're walking." I growled. I stomped to the driver's side and ripped my bag out.

The car was always breaking down. It was always sputtering, always looking shitty, but I was so positive this was it. And there was no fucking way I was riding the bus again. Not when Mike Newton still rode it. Kid was too fucking persistent.

I closed the door again, and let out another frustrated yell as I threw my book bag at it and started my kicking assault again.

"I can't fucking believe this!" I screamed. I picked my bag up and again and hit it against the door again and again. "Stupid mother fucker!"

Alice and Rose had stepped out of the car and I don't know which one, but one of them rested their hand on my shoulder. I looked up. It was Rose.

"Look behind you." She whispered, her eyes wide. She swallowed hard and I followed her directions.

I hadn't even heard the car pull up, let alone hear the doors open and close. I mean, come on, how angry could I have been to not hear a fucking Hummer pull up to the opposite side of the road?

I stood there, panting, holding my book bag by one hand, and looked at the group of men standing in front of the vehicle.

Aw no _fucking_ way.

"Holy shitting Jesus." I whispered.

"Hello, I'm Edward Cullen." One of the men said, a very familiar looking man, who stepped forward. "These are my brother Jasper and Emmett."

I swallowed hard. This was what Rose looked so scared about. I looked over to Alice real quick, who seemed to be shitting her pants at this moment.

"I—we—we're going, sorry if we blocked the road." I said, looking behind me. Nope. The road was open wide. That's why I pulled onto the curb.

"Oh no, you're fine." Edward fucking Cullen said. "It just seemed to us that you were in distress."

The brothers smiled at this. Fuckers smiled. Okay, so they just watched me try to beat up my truck and did nothing? Fuckers.

I couldn't figure out why I wasn't scared. Was it because I was dreaming? Or was I in shock? I mean, these were the infamous brothers standing not ten feet away from us. They were looking at us. They were _talking_ to us.

"Okay then." I said slowly. "We have to get back to my house though . . . so . . ."

I left it open, hoping they wouldn't object to us fucking them over and leaving.

"Do you need a ride?" Emmett asked. His eyes flickered to Rose, and I followed his gaze. She was blushing furiously and looking down.

"God damn it Alice I told you that conversation was fucking tabooed." I whispered furiously to her, obviously not quite enough.

"What conversation?" Jasper asked quietly, looking at Alice.

"We are just going to walk." I said quickly, ignoring his question, and threw my bag onto my shoulders and moved. Rose and Alice followed. "Thanks though."

"Wait." Edward said, his voice snapping out. I paused and looked back. "We insist."

A threat.

That was a motherfucking _threat_.

I gulped and looked to Alice and Rose. They looked helpless. I nodded my head reluctantly and moved towards the brothers. You didn't deny them. Unless you wanted to be abducted in the middle of the night.

Edward stepped forward and opened the door to the back of the Hummer. I paused and looked up at him (he was really freaking tall man) and met his gaze quickly. He looked at me curiously, his eyes scanning m face, searching.

I scowled and climbed into the truck, settling down into the seat and getting comfortable. Alice and Rose filed in next, buckling in, and we scooched closer to each other, holding each other's hands for strength. Emmett climbed behind the wheel, Jasper next to him, then Edward in the passenger seat.

Emmett started the car and it roared to life.

It was silent Emmett turned the car around to the direction my truck had been facing.

"This is weird." I announced, moving my butt because it was falling asleep.

Edward turned around and flashed me his famous half smile.

Oh _fuck me_.

"What's your name?" he asked.

I paused.

Don't talk to strangers, my mom had told me.

But don't _don't_ talk to the Cullen brothers, every other human being on the planet had said.

"Isabella." I said curtly.

Jasper turned around, looking pointedly at Alice. "Alice." She muttered.

"Rose." Rose said on cue, guessing she would be asked next. Fuck this was not good. The brothers were signaling us out.

This was un-fucking-real.

"Isabella." Edward said, as if he were tasting my name.

I cringed.

And I cringed again at the way my body reacted to the sound of my name on his lips.

"What?" I snapped.

I mean come on, who just said someone's name out loud and then did nothing?

Alice squeezed my hand, warning me, reeling my temper back in. I don't know, maybe I was still pissed about my truck. Or maybe I was pissed that this was actually happening. We had thought they had left the state by now. Otherwise we would never have gone outside, let alone drive down a deserted rode.

I looked across Alice to Rose, who stared at me with raised eyebrows. _Okay Bella_, she was saying, _reel that puppy back in_.

I nodded my head and sighed, leaning back in my seat.

Edward was staring at me.

I scowled and pointedly looked away from his piercing gaze.

"This is my house here." I said, my voice quiet and moody. I hated showing them where I lived and slept.

I'll say it again. This was weird.

Emmett pulled into my gravel driveway and I opened the door and was out before the car even stopped.

I held the door open and stepped aside to let Rose and Alice out. "Wait, Isabella." Edward said as I moved to shut the door. I bit my lip and forced myself to look at him. "Would you and your friends care to accompany us tonight for dinner?"

I swallowed.

This was unreal.

I kept waiting to wake up and laugh at how ridiculous my imagination was. But that never happened.

Because this shit was real.

Alice and Rose were frozen behind me, and I looked back at their wide eyes and open mouths for a second. Nope. Nope I couldn't do it.

I took a breath and turned back to Edward. "Edward," I began, my voice sickly sweet. He smiled, the bastard, thinking he had won. "Go fuck yourself and then shove your dinner up your ass."

I stepped back and slammed the door shut.

But not before I saw his smile broaden into a full out grin that I was sure would haunt me tonight. That wasn't an "Oh well, guess she doesn't like me" grin. That was an "I sure love a hearty challenge" grin.

I turned around and grabbed my friend's shoulders, pushing them back over the walkway quickly and into the house. You never knew if they'd shoot us or something. I don't know, I've never told a mob member to fuck themselves.

I pushed them inside and looked back to see the Hummer pulling out of the drive way. I let out a breath.

This was going to be interesting.

/3/3/3/3/3/3/3/3

"I still can't believe you said that." Alice whispered, hugging her knees to her chest on my floor. I sighed.

"Alice, that was like six hours ago. Let it drop." Rose mumbled, nibbling on another saltine cracker.

Charlie wasn't coming home tonight, which I found out when I found his note on the counter. That made me incredibly uneasy. If I had known my father, a cop, was going to be gone the entire night and leaving me and my friends alone and defenseless, then I would not have been that harsh with Edward.

But there was no taking it back.

We were just going to pull an all nighter, keeping knives and bats close by, and wait for Charlie to come back. He was on some fishing trip, and was just going to crash at the Clearwater's place.

"Drop it?" Alice asked, looking up at us, shocked. "We are going to get kidnapped tonight! Bella, you know how this goes!"

I opened my mouth to tell her to shove it when something creaked downstairs.

"Oh god it's happening." Alice whispered, her eyes wide, staring at the closed door of my room. "You have to check first, Bella."

I rolled my eyes and stood up, grabbing the baseball bat Charlie usually kept in his room, beside his bed. "I'll be back soon, losers."

I opened my door and closed it quietly behind me.

My heart was drumming impossibly fast in my chest.

Yea, I could act like they were all overreacting. But that didn't mean I couldn't be shitting myself secretly.

I walked down the hallway, and struck my head into the bathroom. Nothing. I moved to the top of the stairs and looked into the bottom room at the bottom step. We had left every single light on in the house so we could see things in these situations.

I saw nothing in the light.

I gulped and moved down the stairs, wincing when they squeaked. I hit the bottom and raised the bat above my head, looking both ways. I saw nothing.

I moved into the kitchen, shivering at the cold, and moved to close the window above the sink. Fucking Rose, she was always so hot that she felt the urge to open every window.

That had to have been the noise.

"Fucking pathetic." I muttered and turned around.

The lights went off, swarming me in a chill darkness.

There was a muffled thud from above me and I jumped, looking up. That was my room.

My breathing was coming in as almost pants by now as I moved through the house and up the stairs, past my bathroom and through the closed door of my room.

"Alice." I panted, coming into the room. No Alice cuddled on the floor. "Rose?" No Rose, eating saltine crackers on the bed, although the crackers were still there.

"Oh god this is so bad." I whispered, looking under the bed and in the closet. "Okay, you guys, if this is a joke, you got me. Come out now. I get it. I shouldn't have told the pretty boy to fuck off, I get it! Come out now or I might accidently bash you head in with my bat!"

Nothing.

I made some distressed noise as I moved to my open window. There was that noise outside again.

I looked out the window and dropped the bat.

The hummer was here.

"Come on!" I yelled, and hit the frame of my window. This was so bad. So, so bad. I didn't think he would actually kidnap us! We were just teenagers!

I turned around to run back out of my room, but froze instantly, almost stumbled.

Some guy was standing in my door frame. I didn't recognize him, with his long blonde hair and rugged, mean looking features, but I didn't need to. No matter what he looked like he was still a guy who was standing in my room.

I screamed and swung my bat. His eyes widened, not seeing this coming and I clocked him in the side of his head. He grunted and collapsed onto the floor, clutching his right temple.

I jumped over his body and ran down the hallway. He was groaning and lifted himself to one knee as I sprinted down the stairs. The front door was wide open and I sprinted through it, to the driveway. The Hummer was parked at the head and I only stumbled, nearly fell, about three or four times before I reached it and threw the passenger door open.

No one.

I pulled the back door open.

No brother, no Alice or Rose.

I looked in the back and saw no one.

What the fuck was happening!

I stepped out of the car and looked around me.

"Come out you lousy fuckers!" I screamed, my voice ringing through the air. Why the fuck could there be no close neighbors in Forks?

I was panting, holding the bat out in front of me, spinning in circles. All I saw was the car, the house, and the woods. And the shadows. So many shadows that could be holding so many things.

"Alice!" I screamed.

"Rose!"

I yelled in frustration and swung the bat at the window of the car, but it only bounced back. Bullet proof _fucking_ windows.

Fuckers.

I gasped in mouth fulls of air and looked behind me. Then I saw the foot.

Just a little piece of it, sticking out from the woods. I gasped, dropping the bat and sprinted towards it. I pushed my way through the bushes and branches and kneeled in front of the body.

"Oh god, Rose." I whispered. She was breathing, I saw that much instantly. She looked as if she were sleeping, actually. I grabbed her shoulder and shook her. Nothing. "Rose, wake up!"

I saw Alice lying down next to her and I gasped, shaking her shoulder too.

"What the fuck, wake up you guys!" I spit through my teeth.

"They're drugged."

I gasped and stood up, looking into the darkness around me.

"Where are you." I demanded, turning in a circle.

"You shouldn't have denied us, sweetheart." Edward tsked from the shadows. "You should know we always get what we want."

"Show yourself you lousy fuck!"

I let out a cry of fear and nervousness and looked around me, panicked.

"Aw, that's not nice at all, sweetheart." Edward said, faking hurt. "But I do love that dirty little mouth of yours."

"This is wrong!" I screamed. "We're just teenagers!"

"For three more weeks."

I paused, my eyes widening. "How the fuck do you know my birthday?" I growled.

Where was he?

His voice sounded as if it was coming from all angles and I couldn't locate it.

"Aw, sweetheart, I know everything about you." He teased. "It's crazy what you can learn in six hours."

"Just get it over with!" I screamed.

I knew I had no way out of this, and the apprehension was killing me. I could fight him when I saw him, when he brought us wherever he was bringing us. And by god I was sure as fuck not going to be one of those victims that they scared into silence.

This fucker was going to get quiet the wake up call.

"Bella."

His breath whispered across my neck and I gasped, spinning around.

And he was there, standing in front of me, so close. I could feel the heat radiating off of his body and I looked up into his cocky grin as something sharp imbedded itself into my shoulder blade. I gasped, pulling away, but the next second the painful pressure was gone.

I looked at the needle he had in his hand.

I looked at the small pin prick of blood on my shoulder.

Fucker.

That mother fu—

My vision blurred and I stumbled to the side. He reached out and grabbed me and lowered me to the ground, laying me softly on the leaves as my breathing slowed.

"Sh, sh, you're okay, you're fine." He cooed, smiling that sexy as fuck smile at me.

"You fucker." I sighed, collapsing into the darkness, the darkness tainted by his smile and that laugh that rang out from my words.

God we were so fucked.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Thank you guys for all the great reviews! I know this new Bella is probably a little surprising, but I like the idea of a woman who can stand up for herself ;)**

**Hope you still like it though after this chapter. Little bit of asshole Edward. Lots of profanity screaming Bella.**

**Just remember, Edward is a notorious criminal, along with his brothers and basically his entire family. So… this means he can get away with anything he really wants to do. Like kidnapping Bella and her friends. Keep that in mind, and I promise it will be explained in later chapters if you stick with me through this story, so it should be explained why Edward can get away with a shit ton of stuff and his entire criminal record and connections. Exciting stuff man, excited stuff :)**

**Enjoy!**

Ouch.

Senses rushed onto me suddenly, surprisingly. I was most aware of the awkward position I was in, with my muscles tensed and knotted.

Warmth.

And a plush surface beneath me.

I was on a bed.

I forced my eyes open slowly to dim lighting and an obviously expensive, extravagant room. I was lying on my arm, so it must have fallen asleep hours ago. My leg was hitched up towards my chest, my neck bent at an odd angle, and everything just hurt now.

I groaned and untangled my limbs before sitting up. I sat in a queen sized bed with a fancy frame that gave the impression of weaving and intertwining branches. My curiosity got me and I touched it. Nope, it was metal.

I looked around. The room was massive, huge. In one corner seemed to be just a relaxing area, adorned with a rug and several plush couches. I saw a desk, with a computer, very fancy looking and a confusing one I might add as well. Then again, any computer looked confusing to me…

My bed sat against the wall opposite from one door, and to the right of another, and to the left of yet another. I slowly pulled the thick white comforter off of my body and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. My bare feet hit the cool wood and I shivered.

I walked to the door closest to me, on my left. I tried the knob, but it was locked. I moved to the other one, mind stiff with sleep and muscles slowly unclenching. It was a door to a massive bathroom, complete with two sinks, a toilet and a shower that took up half the room with maybe six different spouts and a tiled floor and wall.

That was… fucking huge. God damn it I had never seen a bathroom like that. My mind, still trapped in the thick fog of confusion and sleep was incapable of comprehending this. All of this.

I swallowed, hard, and turned around to the last door. It was another room, half the size of the bedroom. It was set as a circle though, and covering every inch of the wall were shelves, covered completely in books. Not one empty space for a new book.

I stared, shocked, open mouthed.

Holy fuck.

I turned my back on it, eyes still wide, my heart beating fast.

Yes I remembered everything from last night, or whenever it happened.

Fucking Edward Cullen and his shit headed brothers came and got my friends and I. The motherfucker locked me in a room.

I moved to the only locked door and tried it again, just in case. Nope. Still locked.

So . . . I kicked it. Hard. I swore aloud at the pain in my foot but I kicked it again anyways.

"You fucker!" I screamed as loud as I possibly could. The fog was clearing form my head. Things came in clearer, carrying more emotion and trepidation for me. "Let me out of this fucking room or I swear to god your balls will be shoved so far up your ass you can taste them!"

Nothing.

So then I just screamed. And screamed. And screamed a little more. I grabbed the closest thing to me, some extravagant vase on a dainty little table, and threw it at the door. It shattered, of course.

Still, no one came.

"You fucker!" I screamed. "You are so fucked for this! So fucking fucked you fucker!"

I grabbed the table that I had just taken the vase off of it and hauled it at the door. It didn't break, but just kind of made a loud noise which I guess was all I wanted.

I dropped my arms, panting and moved over to the sitting area. I plopped myself down on one of the couches and crossed my arms over my chest, pouting like a little child. Which . . . I guess I kind of was . . .

"This is so fucked up." I muttered to myself, shaking my head. There were no windows in this room. I could not tell if it was night or if it were day. All I knew was that I was awake and that I was locked in a room and Edward had drugged me.

So was this what those women who disappeared went through? They were locked in the biggest room ever fucking made and treated like shit, taken away from their life, until they gave into little Mr. Perfect over there?

Oh come the fuck on.

I mean sure, this was the best room I may have ever seen. And sure, I never thought it was possible to love a bathroom until now. And yes, okay, I had never heard, nor dreamed, of a library. My own personal library I should say.

But—

Wait, what was my point?

Oh yea, this was still wrong. I was still a prisoner, forced to sleep in some comfortable as fuck bed until I gave in and went on a lousy date with Edward fucking Cullen.

That bastard.

I humphed and stood up, moving to the bathroom, my legs shaky. This was a lot to take in.

The first thing I wanted to do was take a shower. I just had that yucky, gross feeling. But until I was sure the perv ball hadn't set up cameras all over the room, then I would settle for washing my face and brushing my teeth.

Set in a ceramic toothbrush holder that could hold seven brushes was my very own toothbrush, sitting solo in the holder. Well, not my one from home, but a new one. Looked the same though, which was weird.

And next to it was an unopened bottle of toothpaste.

Same brand I had at the bathroom in Forks.

And then again, was I even still in Forks? I would have to find that out. Soon.

I picked the brush up hesitantly, as if it would blow up, and then brushed my teeth after realizing that in fact, no, Edward had not placed a bomb in my toothbrush. I washed my face with cold water, trying to bring my panic and fear down to a controllable level. I can tell people off in public if they piss me off, yes. I can stick up for total strangers too, sure, easy.

But, like a normal human being, I kind of got scared when a notorious criminal kidnaps me and locks me in a room. I found a towel, blue, my favorite color, slung on a hook by the shower. I patted my face dry with that before heading back into the room, towards a dark wooden dresser next to the door leading into the library.

Did he even think to get me clothes?

Oh yea.

Yes he did. Boy did that fucker think to get me clothes.

The drawers were stuffed with them. Expansive shit too. Never worn. I mean, of course the tags were off, but you could tell. And for someone who has not owned a new pair of clothes in a few months, I could tell pretty the fuck soon.

The top drawer was filled with designer jeans. So was the second. The third just had dress shirts and some dress pants. So . . . did he plan on letting me out in public then because these were formal occasion clothes right here?

What can I say? I was a hopeful fucker.

Fourth one down had shirts, and I grabbed a loose fitting one to change into, along with a pair of sweats. If he was going to lock me in a room, I wasn't going to wear anything nice for him. Especially not what I found in the last drawer.

Yea, the underwear drawer. Although most of it couldn't even count as that since there was so little of it. Mostly thongs. And lingerie. Lots of that. Lace and shit didn't suit me well. Bra's with hot red lace trim, little corset outfits that you would picture a prostitute wearing.

I closed the drawer, disgusted.

That sick bastard didn't expect me to wear those, did he?

Oh man were we going to have a little talking to when he came back. I changed quickly and threw the dirty clothes onto the floor. I wasn't going to keep the place fucking clean for the guy.

I moved over to the computer next. The actual computer portion was set up under the desk. I hit the button with that obvious power button on it. The thing hummed to life and I smiled to myself, sitting in the desk chair.

"Oh damn." I moaned, leaning back and getting comfortable.

What the fuck kind of computer was this, anyways? It turned on to a log in page, requiring a password.

I sat back further in the chair and stared at it, as if it would magically log itself in. Nope . . . nothing.

"Well fuck me." I groaned.

Yea, I typed in password, in case you were wondering. I also typed in 0000000. Nothing. I tried Edward, or Cullen. I went through every family name I could remember like his brothers, Emmett and Jasper. Neither of those worked. I tried their dad and his wife, Carlisle and Esme. And then I drew a blank to their extended family, which was as intertwined in the crime world as they were.

They were just a little bit more unimportant so they showed up in the news less. Hence my inability to remember them.

Finally the computer locked me out, shutting down completely and I couldn't turn it back on.

So . . . I kicked it.

Well there goes plan A. No way of contacting anyone on the computer for help. How would that have worked, anyways? Like where the fuck was I? Well, did computers have a tracking device, like cell phones? I had no fucking clue . . .

I stood up and looked around me.

What did he expect me to do here?

I mean, I could sit on the bed with another vase in my hands to throw at his head when he came in, I guess. But I had no idea when that would be. Or maybe it would be never.

I don't know, maybe he was into that tacky torture shit, like keeping me isolated for days, or weeks, no human contact until I forgot my own name or whatever.

I shuddered.

And this lack of knowing what the hell I was supposed to do led to my outburst of anger.

Little fun fact about Bella Swan: I have anger management issues. Probably totally obvious, right? So I strode over to the door, stepping over the shards of the vase and hit the door with my fist.

"Hey!" I screamed, almost hurting my own ears from the volume of my voice. "Edward Cullen I swear to _god_ get me out of here!"

I pounded on the door with my fists until they went numb. Still, like last time, no one came. "Rose!" I screamed. "Alice! Can you guys hear me!"

Nothing.

I was completely alone.

I screamed in frustration and hit the door one more time.

Then I started screaming for a different reason. My wrist had turned and I hit the hard oak door with my knuckles. I heard something crack I swear to god I heard it. I stumbled back and cut the heal of my foot on a piece of the ceramic vase. I hissed in pain and fell down hard, landing on my tailbone, and let me tell you, that fucker _hurt_.

I cradled my hand to my chest and stared at the door like it was the doors fault my knuckles were completely shattered.

With my hand shaking I stood up and limped to the bathroom, pain filled tears stinging my eyes. My knuckles had already swelled to twice their original size. Didn't even think that was possible. They were bleeding, too, well mostly it was my middle knuckle and the fourth one in from the thumb, but they all seemed at least a little cut.

Oh fuck, was that a shard of bone?

Oh god it was. It was. I had a mother fucking shard of knuckle jutting out of my middle finger. With my trembling fingers, I turned the faucet on. Warm water gushed through and I winced as it washed over the knuckles, draining away the blood. "I don't know what to do." I whined, having dried them. Should I try to reset them or something? That would hurt though, wouldn't it?

So . . . I kinda just left it. I sat on the granite counter instead and washed the heel of my bleeding foot, then took one of the face cloths and wrapped it up in that, to at least the slow the bleeding. That shit cut pretty deep.

I jumped down from the counter and entered the bedroom again. I pulled through the shit in the underwear drawer until I came across a big fluffy, soft pair of blue socks with little hearts on them. Out of this world comfortable.

And I moved to go sit on the bed, to think of _something_, but I saw it. A phone. There was a fucking phone in this room. I limped/ran to the bedside table and ripped the phone off of its charger. There was one button on it. Just one lousy button. God damn it these were the types of phones you see in fucking motels or something.

But I clicked it anyways.

I didn't care if I talked to a fucking machine, I needed at least some medical assistance all up in here.

"Hell, beautiful." A silk lined voice answered smoothly. I screamed and threw the phone away from me.

Okay, I take it back. I didn't want to talk to anyone. Especially not him. God damn it why did he have to be the one to pick up.

"Bellaaaaaaaa." I heard him call from the phone. It was only ten feet away, so I could hear him just fine. I covered my ears, and then yelped in pain. Right, my hand was broken, got to remember that. "Bella, darling, it will do you no good to ignore me. I'll just come up there." He threatened.

I swallowed hard and got up to grab the phone.

"Edward." I said in as even a voice as I could manage. Damn him for making me scared. God damn him.

"Ah, Bella, such a treat to hear your voice." He sang from the other end of the line. I winced.

"I need medical assistance." My fucking voice trembled. But all I could feel was that crazy throbbing in my hand, so bad it almost blocked out very other thought. Almost.

"Aw, sweetheart, did you hurt yourself?" he cooed. He thought I was faking it.

Fucker.

I sighed and switched ears, holding the phone between my shoulder and my head. I sat back down on the bed. "I broke my hand, Edward. The least you could do it shoot me up with whatever shit you knocked me out with back at my place."

He was silent.

So I waited.

"You're serious." He stated, his voice dead.

I rolled my eyes. "Of course I'm serious you dumb piece of shit."

There was a click on the other end and suddenly I heard nothing. "Edward?"

Bastard hung up on me. I growled in annoyance and threw the phone across the room. It hit the wall, but didn't break, just kind of clanged to the ground.

I sat still and looked at my hand as the pulsing pain coursed through my entire arm, not just my hand.

I sat on the bed and wrapped my arms around my stomach and did nothing. Just sat still, silent.

And then I heard it. Them.

"No, next one down." Oh god that was him. That was him and he was right out my door. "Yeah I got the key right here."

There was a scraping sound, like metal on metal and I watched the door with wide eyes as the knob turned. And then he was suddenly there, standing in the door way.

"Aw you have got to be fucking me." I moaned. I moved across the bed and hopped off on the other side, so now I had at least that separating us. I backed up all the way until my back hit a wall.

"Bella, calm down." Edward said, stepping into the room, his face holding . . . concern? And annoyance, too, probably at my childish reaction. But hot damn he just made me live out horror movie when he abducted me. Like come on that was some crazy shit with the lights going out and finding my friends in the dark woods and him breathing all his shit up on my neck.

I shuddered and moved along the wall.

"I need some medical aid, but not from _your_ lousy fucking ass." I spat. I stumbled backwards as the wall ended and I came to the entrance of the bathroom. I fell down hard and kind of sat there, comically looking at Edward from across the room with wide, confused eyes.

Then he started coming towards me, in long strides.

On some sort of instinct, without me giving my body permission to do so, my leg lashed out and I kicked the door closed. I crawled along the floor and reached up with my good hand, turning the lock easily. I heard him slam into the door and twist the handle again and again.

"Bella, open the door." He demanded.

Stupid fuck didn't think I was actually going to do that, did he?

"Bella, I saw your hand, you need help. I have my father, Carlisle here with me. You probably know he's a doctor, right?" yes, sure, everyone knew that. Didn't mean I wanted another fucking Cullen around me.

"Bring me to the fucking hospital!" I cried, pressing my back against the door. "I don't want you or your family even coming close to me!"

"Oh come on Bella." Edward moaned, hitting the door with his fist. "This can't possibly be that bad. I mean, you're locked in the best room in the fucking house. Besides the room Rosalie and Alice are in. It's pretty much the same deal."

My eyes widened at the mention of my friends name and my breath caught in my throat. My chest tightened. It hurt, in an odd way. Maybe it was the amount of concern and fear that my friends could be getting hurt, could be going through pain, and I could do nothing about it because I was here, and they were there.

"And I must say," Edward continued through the door. "They are handling this much, much better than you are."

I crossed my arms over my chest. Right. They hung out around me too much, so my stubborn, egotistical personality had to have rubbed off on them enough to not let them get bought into a date, right?

Right?

"How the fuck do you expect me to handle this you dip wad?" I spat. "You drug me and lock me in a fucking room!"

"Darling, please, let's keep the naughty language to a minimum with my father present." Edward asked in a sickly sweet voice.

Anger.

Fresh, real, feral. Just… anger.

"Oh for the love of god, I'll make sure to filter my motherfucking language." I yelled. "Because everyone here knows I owe you the fucking world!"

I let out a surprised squeal as the door suddenly pushed open, sliding me across the tiled floor. Fuck I forgot Edward had keys. He stomped around the door and grabbed my arm. "Hey there sweetie pie." He said, smiling, and the fucker winked at me.

"Let's see that sexy little hand of yours." He snapped my arm out straight and I cried out in pain. Fucking A! He crouched down to the ground, at my level.

"Holy shit Bella what the fuck did you do?" he asked, mouth agape, staring at my bleeding hand.

"What did I do?" I asked, eyebrows raised. "I punched the fucking door while trying to get your fucking attention you stupid shit head!"

"Carlisle." He called quietly, still looking at my hand. Then he saw the rag wrapped around my foot. "Christ Bella, I thought I gave you a _safe_ room."

I opened my mouth to respond when Carlisle stepped in.

I don't know . . . Just, surprise, I guess. Maybe a little apprehension. Shock. Fear. Yea, lots and lots of fear.

I was not excited in any way to be within three feet of the most notorious mob boss known in the entire world. Not excited at fucking _all_.

"Holy shit." I whispered, craning my neck back to stare at him with wide eyes. "Oh my god are you guys going to shoot me?"

"Shoot you—what?" Edward asked, looking up from my hand to stare at me with furrowed eyebrows. "Why on Earth would we shoot you?"

"I—I don't know." I muttered, blushing furiously. I mean, the guy had a black bag in his hand. How big were machine guns? Could they fit in that bag? All I knew was that those hand guns in movies could definitely fit in that bag. Like, fifteen of those guns could fit in there. "I just want to go to the hospital."

Edward shook his head, looking down at my hand again and touching the torn skin. I hissed and tried to move my hand away but he held it tight. "Naw, we can't let you go out in public yet." He muttered, as if this were a normal conversation.

"Oh for the love of god are you guys so fucked up that you can't even go after a girl for a date in a normal way?" I shouted, finally snapping my hand out from his grasp. "Jesus Christ why couldn't you just have asked me out a few more times rather than kidnap me!"

Edward smiled.

Stupid fuck.

"Because that's not nearly as fun."

Of course. Pursuing a woman is not fun, but locking her inside your mansion is just a fucking riot.

"For the love of god." I moaned, and stood up to my feet. "You know what? I don't even want medical attention. I want my hand to get gang green and then blood poisoning will go to my heart and I will die."

"Bella, please, you're being ridiculous." Edward sighed, standing as well. God, he was so tall. "Carlisle is a very respected doctor. He knows what he's doing."

I looked at Carlisle, standing quietly by the door, analyzing me with those big blue eyes of his. Fuck, what was he looking at? But man, the looks sure do run in the family, don't they?

"Naw." I said, attempting to move past Edward. He was having none of that.

"Bella, come on, let's do this the easy way now." Edward said, looking at me with raised eyes, asking me politely.

I stared at him. Mouth open. Eyebrows raised. Great, I can honestly say this experience will haunt me forever. I was getting threatened by one of the most experienced criminals in the world to let his notorious mob boss of a father look at my hand and use those creepy fucking tools in that fucking black bag.

What the _fuck_.

I leaned in real close to Edward, causing him to widen his eyes in surprise. Fucker probably thought I was about to make out with him. For the love of god how big was his ego? I rose to my tip toes so I was practically the same height as him.

"Go fuck yourself." I whispered quietly, and then plopped back down onto my feet. His eyes were still wide, shocked, mouth parted. Yea, he thought I was going to kiss him. What the fuck was wrong with him?

And then he smiled.

For the love of all that is good and holy did nothing ever get to him? Come on all I fucking wanted was to piss him off enough so he'd get sick of me and just dump me somewhere. I was smart enough to get home from anywhere. Figuring we were still in the United States, though…

"Carlisle." Edward said, still looking at me, still smiling as if this was a boat load of fun. I gasped when I felt a sharp pain in my arm. I started to pull away, but Edward's arms snapped out and held me still.

"What the fuck!" I cried, looking down. Shit Carlisle was quiet. He was injecting me with something from a clear syringe, and it stung. Bad. "God what is that?" I gasped, looking up t Edward.

And then suddenly there were two of him as my vision blurred and doubled. "Oh you fucker." I mumbled, my mouth suddenly heavy and numb and it felt like someone just shot my mouth up with Novocain.

Edward lowered me to the ground slowly as my muscles started to give out, all the while smiling that sexy shit eating grin. God the man was a dick but I sure as hell was fucking turned on by the guy. You know, once I got past the paralyzing fear and everything…

"You know," he whispered, leaning his head in close to me as my eyes fluttered closed. I fought it, I tried, but it was so heavy, and I was so tired… "When you fight like this, it just gets me all the more excited."

Yea. So I fell unconscious with a sick feeling of horror in the pit of my stomach.

/

I don't think I had ever woken up so fast and painfully before.

Things rushed in at me all at once the second I rose from the dark depths of unconsciousness. I remembered everything, every word Edward said, every minute I had been here.

Let me tell you. That was a fucking horrible way to wake up.

I gasped awake, sitting up straight in bed. My forehead smashed into something solid and just as suddenly as I was sitting up, I was lying back down again, a thread of profanities pouring form my mouth.

When the pounding in my head reduced to a dull throb, I decided to open my eyes first before I shot out of bed.

A bunk bed. I was lying in a bunk bed. The wooden beams running across the top must have been what I hit my head on.

I groaned and sat up, swinging my legs slowly off of the bed. I saw my foot, wrapped in gauze. I flexed my foot out and felt the cut. Stitches? Oh yea, I had had enough of those things to know what they felt like.

I looked down at my hand, at the brace wrapped on it, over the gauze strips taped down to it. I didn't bother stretching my fingers for that. I was stupid… but I wasn't _that_ stupid.

The floor was wooden, but my feet were still covered in those fuck my comfy blue socks so I couldn't feel the cold. I looked around the dim room.

It was small, maybe the size of the bathroom leading off of the bedroom I first woke up in. I was in fact in a bunk bed, I saw. There was another next to it as well. There were shelves against one wall, holding gauze strips and ace bandages and a shit ton of ointments.

Was this an infirmary?

I stood up and almost lost my balance form the spinning in my head. I held onto the bed post until my vision cleared. Things hurt. Like my head. My hand for sure. My foot. I limped across the room though, feeling tired and broken and in pain. I probably bruised the fuck out of my face, so that wasn't going to be fun.

I felt stupid when I tried the door, but come on. I had to try.

Thank the fucking lord I did, too.

When the knob turned completely around, my hand fell off of it in surprise. And then I stared at it like a fucking idiot. It was unlocked. My heart beating wildly, I turned it again, throwing the door open.

The hallway was light blue on top, then a wooden divider a little over halfway down, and then wood on bottom. Fuck that shit looked good. I stood still, straight, and stuck my head out.

The change in posture almost knocked me off of my feet again but I held onto the doorframe to right myself. That drug Carlisle shot me up with must still be fucking up my head. I took a deep breath and stuck my head out again. There was a person, at one end of the hallway. His back was broad, huge, actually. T-shirt. I could see the fucking biceps and my mouth fell open. He was talking to someone, a woman it seemed like, but I couldn't see the front of her because that guy was just too fucking huge.

I looked the other way, saw it was clear, even saw the opt of fucking stares. I slid out of the room, thinking I probably had no other option right now. I looked over my shoulder. He was still turned away, talking to someone. I took a breath and moved as quiet as I could, trying to fight through this thick fog clouding my mind. Fucking drugs.

I turned back to the hallway in front of me.

Holy fucking shitting blue jeans! When the fuck did a table get right there? How the fuck did I miss that one? Yea, well, I noticed it when I ran into it and knocked the flower pot off of the center of it. I fell to the side, having instinctively taken the weight off of the foot with the stitches in it, which then in turn forced me to collapse onto the floor.

"Oh fucking lord all mighty!" I cried, cradling my hand to my chest. My head span, my stomach turned, and I knew for sure I was going to throw up. I even made some gagging sound.

And then nothing came up. I stared, wide eyed, at the white ceiling above me. Fucking A I was stupid. Holy fucking A. I turned my head to the side, to the huge guy and whoever he had been talking to. Yea… he had heard me.

And yea . . . that was Emmett fucking Cullen. Oh goody, that looked like Esme Cullen too.

They were turned my way, eyes wide, just staring, kind of surprised and shocked. This hallway was fucking long, though, so they were a good two hundred feet away from me. Eyes wide, heart beating at an impossibly fast rate, I scrambled to my feet, crawling for a good five feet before I even caught my balance enough to stand.

"Hey!" yup, they got their senses back. God that guy was huge I could hear him stomping down the hallway. "Hey wait! Bella wait!"

At the stairs. Hand sliding down the glossed railing and feet tripping, stumbling down the steps. Sweat. Yea, lots of nervous, panicking sweat.

My heart beat, roaring in my ears and then finally the tiled floor in front of me, stepping across it. Socks sliding across the surface, arms flailing for balance. And Emmett, charging down the stairs so much faster than me.

Kitchen? Yes, that looked like a kitchen.

I moved as fast as I could into the room to the left. Fuck me this wasn't a kitchen. This was just a fucking cooking room. I looked around me, eyes wide. This was unreal. Really fucking unreal.

I heard Emmett jump the last three steps and slam onto the ground. That jumped me out of my trance, got me running again. Cabinets. Lots of cabinets. I tore the door open to the first one. There were pots, pans, bowls. Enough space though. More than enough space.

I threw myself in, closed the door so it was dark, waited, held my hand over my mouth and tried to control my panting, gasping breaths.

He was in the kitchen now. I could hear him slam through the door and he was in now, he was stopping, pausing, breathing heavy and looking around the room. "Bella, come on!" he yelled, exasperated. "Edward is going to kill me man!"

I couldn't tell if he was joking or not. Edward was a criminal after all. Then again, so was Emmett.

So…

I closed my eyes tight and fought through the head ache induced nausea. Everything was in so much pain. Everything. I just wanted someone to knock me out, maybe with that shit Carlisle used. But that would involve me showing them who I was. Not going to happen. So not going to happen.

Emmett ran through the room though, large feet stomping. He went through some other door, into some other room.

Relief.

Pure relief so good I gulped it up. I opened the cabinet door. Yes, he was gone. I crawled out, untangling my limbs. It just looked like an over sized restraint kitchen. Fancy. Stainless steel. Lots and lots of stainless steel.

Wooden floor. Christ was there entire house made of wooden floors?

I moved quietly, easily, across the floor, sliding on my socks like I was skating. Yea, I was a dumb fuck. I looked outside the doorway I had entered, and saw no one. Soft step though the doorway.

Nope, still no one.

This seemed like a front foyer, sort of. The floor was checkered tiles, black and white. Big stairs leading to the hallway I just ran for my life from. I stopped in the middle of the foyer. It would make sense then, for that huge motherfucking oak door to be the front door then, wouldn't it?

I moved to the door and tore it open, the curved handle moving easily in my hands. I wasn't so stupid to just let it slip from my hand sin surprise this time though. The door opened smoothly and slivers of decreasing sunlight spilt across the tiled floor.

Shit that was a nice sunset.

Why the fuck did it have to be ruined by that blaring alarm?

I screamed and stumbled back. _Fuck_ me! That was so fucking loud! I closed the door, trying to make it stop. Nope, that didn't work. Shit just kept on going.

"It's the front! No, the _front_!"

Shit. Shit I didn't recognize those voices. But they were coming my way. I turned around and sprinted down a hallway to the left of the stair case. Away from the voices. I rounded the first corner I came to, held back fear so real it almost brought me to tears. They had run to the front door. I couldn't hear anything over the blaring alarm ringing through the entire house, but suddenly it stopped. Suddenly it was quiet.

I held my hands over my mouth, tightly, biting back the pain from my hand and head.

"Shit, fucking Emmett must have thought this was funny." Someone muttered. I closed my eyes tightly.

"Yea, well, they are going to review the tapes later so just make it look like we searched around." Another sigh.

Tapes. They were going to watch the tapes. To cameras? Oh smite the, my fucking lord.

My head spun around the dining room I sat in. Yup. There it was. Right in the corner, above that massive fucking table.

"Shit." I cursed. I flipped the camera off.

I moved along the wall, through the room, then moved around a sharp, corner down another hallway.

Doors. Lots of fucking doors.

I tried the first one. Locked. Second one was locked too. Third one as well.

Fourth one on the right side looked the best, door wise. Different. A darker wood. Like my door.

I tried the knob, not really surprised when it was locked. I was, however, surprised by the huge loud fucking bang that smashed into the door. I yelped and jumped back.

"Yea you better be scared you piece of shit!"

I couldn't breathe. I held my good hand over my heart and stared wide eyed at the door. That… that was Rose. That was Rose's voice.

"Rose." I tried, only my voice cracked, too quiet. Not working.

"Get me out of here!" she screamed. "Where the fuck are Bella and Alice! You stupid piece of shit if you hurt them you're going to pay! And I know your way bigger than me and I know your muscles are the size of my entire body and I know you've probably killed a whole bunch of people, but I don't give a shit! I can walk a mile in five inch pumps! So… so I can stab you with that heel, I guess."

I let out a shaky laugh. Yes, that was Rose. I had taught her well.

"Rose." I said louder, moving across the width of the hallway so I could get closer to my friend. "Rose, it's me, Bella. I got out of my room Rose. I got out."

"Bella?" she gasped. Her voice seemed so much closer to the door. "Oh my god Bella I am so sorry I let you go downstairs." She gasped, her words coming out in a rush.

Ah. She felt bad about the house. Well, I had fun. You know, I got to freak out, hit a guy over the side of the head with a bat, find my friends in the woods and think for a second they were dead but hey, it was cool, they were just drugged.

"Rose, it's fine." I said quietly, touching the door with the palm of my hand and resting my bruised forehead on the cool surface. "Rose, oh my god, are you hurt?"

"Hurt? No, no I'm fine. Emmett's been super nice and everything, and this room is fuck me great, and the clothes they got. The fucking clothes Bella, oh my god. But—but they locked me in a room, man. And they drugged me and kidnapped me! All of us!"

"Rose are—are they treating you okay?" I stuttered out, closing my eyes tight.

"Oh, yes, Emmett came in earlier and brought me dinner and he sat down and talked to me and he was sweet and all—but… but still. He kidnapped me!"

"What about Alice, Rose? Do you know where she is?" I asked, my lip trembling.

I heard Rose sigh form the other side of the door. I could picture her shoulders slumping in defeat and fear and apprehension. "No, Bells. I have no clue where she is. I haven't been out of this room in god knows how long. Bella, can you get me out? Do you know how?"

"I—I don't know what to do, Rose." I admitted, dropping my palm from the door. "I don't know how to get you out and I don't even know how to get the key."

"Would you like to borrow mine?" his breath ghosted across the exposed skin on my neck, his lips brushing my ear lobe. Oh god I think I felt tongue. Fucker just licked me.

I screamed.

Edward. How on Earth did Edward get that close to me? How the fuck did he lean in that close to me and I didn't even fucking notice.

"Shit, Bella, are you alright?" Rose cried from the other side of the door.

"Y-yea, Rose, I'm fine." I said, staring wide eyed at my captor. He wasn't smiling. Not this time.

"I don't appreciate you running away, Bella." He said softly, reaching his hand up. Fear. Fear paralyzed me in a way that made me feel weak and powerless. The back of his hand lightly brushed over my cheek softly.

I shivered.

Down my jaw, his thumb brushing over my bottom lip. Down my neck. Fingers tracing my jugular.

I could only stare at him as he looked deep into my eyes. Why was a I scared? Why wasn't I running? This man could kill me right now and all I was doing was standing still and pissing my pants.

And then his palm was on my shoulders. He stopped his movement.

"Bella?" Rose called quietly, cautiously, scared, from the other side of the door.

Edward pushed me. Hard. My back hit the door and his hand stayed in place, his other one coming up to rest on the other side of my head. Rose yelped, startled. I stayed silent, eyes widening impossibly further. His face was so close to mine, eyes ablaze.

Now he was smirking again.

"Please Bella, if you cooperate, then this will be so much easier." He whispered, eyes locked on mine. "Because I can promise you this, baby. You will be here for a long while. A long, long while. I have some big plans for you."

"Oh god Bella." Rose said, hearing every word. I swallowed. Rose started to cry. "Fucking A that's what Emmett said to me. Fuck me sideways." She moaned.

"Yea." I shivered out. "What she said."

My voice was so small. I felt so small. His gaze was so hot, his hands pressing hard into my shoulder, my back pressed against the door.

"Oh, and to top it off," I said, swallowing again in hopes of finding my voice, my stronger voice, that is. "Fuck you."

There it was.

There _I_ was. Thought I lost me for a second there,

Bella Swan was back.

And judging by the smirk, the look in his eyes, Edward Cullen didn't seem to be done chasing her.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Thank you guys for all of your support! I loved the reviews last chapter and I still hope you like the story after this chapter. A few more surprises, actually. Please stick with me though, because I plan on this getting a bit more interesting!**

**Please review!**

**I don't own twilight or any of the characters.**

I was locked away for good. I was sure of it. No amount of screaming or shouting or swearing would get me out of this room. Ever. It only excited Edward, it seemed. Delighted him. Amused him.

I was losing it. My mind, I mean. It was slowly but surely escaping me and I didn't know what to do. I didn't read. I wouldn't allow myself to even touch any of his books. I couldn't go on the computer, try to get help, because guess who didn't have the password. I couldn't sleep, because all I saw was Edward, in the middle of that dark forest, smiling.

And there was only so much pacing I could do in here.

Edward removed anything glass or ceramic or anything breakable and sharp. He replaced everything with plastic, actually. No more fancy, expensive vases. He even took my ceramic toothbrush holder away, giving me a plastic kids one instead. Literally, it had SpongeBob all over it. It was incredibly insulting, despite the fact that I was in love with SpongeBob.

He came in here a lot. Probably twice a day, sometimes three times. He brought me food, and sat on the bed, or in the chairs while I ate. Tried talking to me. The only thing he got out of me was insults. I would have had to completely lost my mind to hold a legitimate conversation with him.

All he asked was what my favorite color was. Where I would most love to go on vacation. Did I like animals? What about chocolate, did I like chocolate? And the toothbrush holder, did I like that? Did I think it was _funny_.

But you know, he already knew the answers to all of that. He knew my favorite color was blue. Everything was blue in this room. The towels, the walls, the sheets. He knew I had never gone on vacation. He knew I loved animals, just didn't have any. He knew I liked chocolate, but only when I was depressed.

And he knew the toothbrush holder pissed me off.

And how did I know he knew? Because he was a god damn criminal, that's how. One of the best in the world. And I was lucky enough to have caught his attention.

I sat on my bed most of the time, staring at the blue canopy above me, resting my broken hand on my stomach. He would knock on the door gently, even though I told him to go away every time. He came in anyways.

He was nice, too, which made me really angry. He would keep a distance, after the incident in the hallway. If I ate my lunch on the bed, he'd be on the couch. If I was eating at the couch, he'd be on the bed. He never got close, because he knew I hated that. He never asked if I missed my family, or really anything having to do with my old life, because he knew I'd try to strangle him.

He was a gentlemen.

And I hated him.

I didn't get it. I just didn't get it. I was plane. I was boring. I was temperamental. I had yet to say one nice thing to him . . . yet here I was. In five minutes or so, he'd be knocking on the door again to give me dinner. He'd attempt to talk to me again. He'd tell me the day, if anything happened in the news. I thought he'd get tired of me.

I _hoped_ he'd get tired of me.

I was wrong.

He just seemed to get more determined to get some other reaction besides anger out of me. He failed every time, however.

Shamefully, I will admit that I was undeniably attracted to him. The man was a god. And I was a sucker for the messy, fucked up hair look. What can I say, I was a hormonal teenager. I'd get those butterflies in my stomach when he came in, I'd have crazy fantasies and dreams, but that was just to do with his looks, got that? That had nothing to do with the fact that he was trying really hard to win me over or whatever.

It only had to do with the fact that I would jump him in a heartbeat if I didn't think he'd turn around and shoot me. And… he'd think he had won and I could have none of that.

I was startled out of my thoughts by the knock on the door. Just on time.

"Go die in a whole dip shit." I sighed, not really feeling the insult. It was just so repetitive, this whole routine. Yup, here he comes, unlocking the door. It was as if he were translating my harsh words into complements in his fucked up mind. He'd place the tray on my bed next, then back up and wait to see where I felt like eating. Yup, there he goes.

I sat up and watched him move towards me. He was wearing a suit. Tailored. Perfect. Hot. Like always. This was a new one, though. Or at least one I had not seen. Dark blue, pin striped jacket. White shirt. Matching pants. Black shoes. Mhmm.

He placed the tray of food at the head of the bed and then stepped back. He was smiling. Damn it nothing affected him. Nothing.

"Hey there beautiful." He said, smiling all the way. I lazily flipped him the bird before I pulled the tray over to me. His smile broadened as he moved to the couch.

"Actually, on second thought I'm going to eat on the couch." I said, standing up the minute he sat down. He looked up at me, eyebrows raised in surprise at my new level of immaturity before he stood up. Come _on_, I thought I had him there. But nope, there goes the gentlemen, sitting on the bed.

It was steak tonight. Mashed potatoes. Green beans. I set it on the table and picked up the metal fork, glancing over at him quickly. He was staring at me. It was weird how he just watched me when I ate. I sighed and dropped the fork.

"What." I snapped.

Eyebrows raising again, smiling again. He reached into the pocket of his coat.

For a minute I felt fear so real it nearly made me shit my pants. I thought he was pulling a gun out. I thought that was a gun, that he was going to shoot me. I saw it, all in my head, in that half a millisecond. I saw him taking it out, pulling the safety off, aiming, and pulling the trigger. I saw the bullet come at me in slow motion and my life ending in just one second.

My breathing stopped. Felt like my heart stopped, too.

And then he pulled it out.

"Oh for fucks sake, Edward." I yelled. "Just give me a heads up, next time, will you? I thought you were pulling out a gun."

He stared at me for a moment before he laughed. God, did that man have a laugh. "No, not a gun." Yea, no shit. It was a phone, just like the one I had yet to pick up after throwing it at the wall however long ago that was. Was it a week? Had to have been at _least_ that, right?

"I already have a phone, Edward." I sighed, pointing blindly at the floor somewhere over by the door. I picked my fork up again. "Just because you give me another one doesn't mean I'm going to call you."

I heard him laugh again. Whatever. "No, this is a different kind of phone. It has more than one number to dial too, actually. Alice and Rosalie are getting ones just like this, if you catch my meaning." He said smoothly, quietly.

No more fork in my hand. I think I might have dropped it, I'm not sure, but one moment it was there, next my hand was empty. I looked over at Edward. "Don't fuck with me, Edward." I warned, standing up slowly. He shook his head, examining the phone in his hand. "You're serious." He nodded. "Give it to me, then."

I marched over, good hand outstretched, ready to tackle him for it. He was going to let me talk to my friends, let me have communication with someone other than him. To talk to someone about how much I hated Edward would be—would be amazing. Thrilling. Like a breath of fresh air.

"But," I stopped midstep, frozen halfway to him. Of course. "You have to ligitemely answer some of my questions."

"No." I said immediately, turning back the sofa.

"Ah, that's a shame." He sighed. "My brothers said your friends were so excited to talk to you. Ah well . . . I bet they'll understand that you were too immature to handle a few questions rather than have a chance of communication with them."

Bastard.

"Okay, fine. You can have, like, two questions." I said, turning back to him. I wanted to talk to them so bad.

"I was thinking more like as many as I wanted."

I frowned. "Come on, Edward. You can't want to talk to me that bad. Just ask, like, two questions and then give me the fucking phone."

He smiled. "But I _do_ want to talk to you that bad. That's something you don't seem to understand, Bella. And yes if you want the phone, then you will have to answer my questions. No sly remarks, either. You blush when you lie, so I can tell if you don't give me an honest answer. Let's try to keep this simple and easy."

I scratched my head and looked at him slyly.

Yes, answering a few of his questions was a huge price to pay in case you were wondering. This was my entire goal, to ignore him and give him nothing.

But… I was losing my mind in here. Being able to only talk to that dipshit was torture. I needed to talk to Alice. I needed to complain to Rose. I needed to know they were okay and we had to get out of here. _I_ had to get out of here.

I was going crazy and there was just no way to get around that fact.

"Fine." I answered shortly. "But you have to stay sitting over there. Don't come near me or I'll shut up and you won't get a fucking thing from me, got it Cullen? And—and you have to answer one of my question for every one of your questions." Damn I was smart.

"Bella, I don't think you're in any positions to make deals here." Edward said in an amused tone, raising an eyebrow in a fuck me sexy way.

I raised one of my own eyebrows in retribution, resting my hands on my hips. "Actually, I think I am. See, I know you want to talk to me. I can tell. You're just too fucked up to give up on the whole thing, and all you want is a little answer here and there. So I think you'd be willing to answer some of my _questions_, if you got a chance to hear some of my _answers_."

Ha, got the bastard there.

"Fine." Yes. "But I have the option of saying no to any of the questions or passing on them."

"That's not fair!" I whined instantly. "That means I could pass on any of your questions too then."

"But you won't get the phone."

"Fucker."

"All the way."

Damn him. Fucking damn him.

I turned around and sat back on the couch, no longer hungry. I pushed the tray to the edge of the table so I could put my feet up and once I was sure I was in the most comfortable position I could manage, I looked over to him.

"Go ahead."

Did the fucker ever stop smiling? God, this was going to kill me, because he knew he had found a weakness, and he knew he could do whatever he wanted right now, because fuck, I was going to shoot myself if I didn't talk to my friends soon.

"Why is your favorite color blue?" he shot out, smiling all the way.

"Why is it _blue_?" I asked, not understanding.

"Yes, why is your favorite color blue. There has to be a reason." He said, clarifying.

"Oh, okay." Weirdo. "Um, I guess it's because of my mom's eyes. I don't know I guess I just remember her eyes the most. They were blue."

"Where—"

"Ah, no." I said, cutting him off with a hand raised. "It's my turn asshole. Why am I here."

"Pass."

"Oh come the fuck on Cullen. You are such a piece of shit."

"Where is your mom?" he continued, as if I hadn't spoken.

Okay, now he was treading on some sensitive ground.

"It's not like you don't already know." I muttered, crossing my arms over my chest and staring at my socks. Blue ones again. Different ones from last week, but still comfy.

"I don't know all the details." He said. "The guys I got to check you out on the computer found some stuff about her, but it wasn't really important for me to know everything."

Ha! I knew the bastard had looked me up!

"Pass." I sneered.

"Okay, well, see you tomorrow then." He sighed, standing up. I looked over at him, surprised. He was taking the phone with him.

"Wait!" fucker. "Fine, fine, just wait, I'll tell you."

He looked over, face serious, no more smile. He sat down. "Okay, jeez, fine. She's in jail, alright?"

Didn't look surprised. I was guessing he knew that part. "For what?"

I swallowed thickly and looked back down, fiddling with the hem of my shirt. "She—she stole some cars and stuff."

"Stole some cars and stuff? What's the _and stuff _part?" he asked.

Swallowed again. "She, ah, she took me along sometimes so they put her in for-uh- child abuse too."

Quiet. So quiet. What was he thinking? Bastard decides _now_ to shut up? I looked over at him quickly. Yup, still looking at me. Never seemed to stop looking at me.

"My turn." I said finally, just to break the tension. After a while he nodded, no trace of a smile at all now. "Why am I here?"

He sighed, annoyed. "Come on, Bella, you asked that last item."

"Yeah, and you didn't answer me!"

"Because I passed."

"Duh, I know. I was here dumb fuck. Just answer the question or take the phone with you. It's not worth it if I don't know why the fuck I'm locked inside a room!"

Jesus Christ the man was stupid. Take your phone you jackass. The reason I was going insane was yes, from isolation, but because I knew nothing. Nothing! I had no idea what I was supposed to do, what he wanted besides a date, why the fuck I was even here. I needed answers, damn it, and if he wasn't giving them to me then he could go jump off a cliff with his fucking phone.

I don't know how, but it was as if he had seen my thoughts painted on my face. He knew I wasn't bluffing. He knew, somehow.

I don't know why, but I was grateful that he could tell.

"I like you." He stated simply, shrugging as if this were the simplest, easiest thing in the world.

"What?"

"I like you."

Staring. Just… I had to make sure he wasn't lying.

Nope, looked serious enough.

"You like me . . . so you drug me and lock me in a room and bribe me into telling you shit about my criminal mom?" I asked. "How does that make any sense at all?"

There's that smile. I was wondering where it went. "I'm a criminal, Bella. This is how I like to do things."

"You could have just asked me out again!" I cried. I was standing up now, heart racing with anger. "You could have just been like 'Bella, I like you, you intrigue me, so would you please go out with me on just one date?' I would have said yes you dumb fuck!"

Oh god, here comes the anger, fresh and clear again. "What the fuck is wrong with you! I don't give a fuck if this is how you like to do things! I'm never going to like you, because you locked me in a god damn room you dumb piece of shit!"

Fuming. Hands tingling in rage. And then him, smiling in all of his glory, sitting in his fuck me sexy suit over on my bed. Damn it why was he so attractive.

And you know what, I would have said yes. If the bastard had asked me out on a date again, instead of kidnapping me then hey, what do you know, the guy would have landed himself a date. I mean, who could say no to that guy. God _damn_ he was good looking.

But that fucking cocky grin never left his face and all he did was stare, know that nothing I could say would ever hurt him because he was like a piece of stone.

"See, this is why I like you." He said finally, motioning a hand in front of him to point out me in all of my fuming glory. "You're just a… a little wild cat. It's sexy. Would you have been this out of control on a first date, Bella?"

"Oh for the love of god!" I shouted, and sat back down. I would not win this fight. I could see he was determined to show that he was in the right by locking me in a room. I mean sure, he seemed totally justified.

"You going to eat?" he asked after a while.

"No. I'm a vegetarian." I snapped.

He sighed, long and loud. I stayed stubborn, crossing my arms tightly over my chest and pouting like a petulant little child. Damn him. He just . . . pissed me off so much.

"Alright, I'll make sure the kitchen prepares some veggies tomorrow." Edward said. He sounded serious, but I knew if I looked up he would be smiling. Bastard was trying to trick me. But then again, I knew for sure that he would actually indeed have the kitchen make me vegetables, and nothing more. Fuck.

You know what, never mind, I don't care. Bring on the vegetables.

I didn't hear him until he was right next to me. Just a whisper of air and suddenly his hand was on the arm of the couch, right there. I gasped, eyes flying up to his perfectly calm, reasonable face. No more smile. He knelt down, so he was at my eyelevel.

"Bella." He said. I waited. He didn't say anything else.

"Edward." I sneered. I wanted to look away, I really wanted to. I wanted that intensity in his eyes to go down a little bit so I could just be as stubborn as before, but he had trapped me in his gaze and I was stuck.

"You are not leaving this room." He stated firmly. "And you are only making this incredibly difficult on yourself. Just give in a little. You'll like it, I promise. You can leave the room. You can see your friends. Just stop being so fucking stubborn and we'll be all set."

I… I couldn't say anything. At a loss for words, I guess. I never understood that expression until now. Jeez, the fucker was a tough one.

"Please." I whispered, still staring. "I just want to leave."

Still smiling.

Always smiling.

"You know what to do, then."

I felt something in my lap and looked down. The phone. He turned it over so I could see five buttons, instead of just the one on the other phone.

"This one calls Rosalie. This one calls Alice." Edward said, pointing to the buttons as I watched, frozen, in shock and defeat too, I guess. "This one here calls both at the same time so you can have a three way conversation if you guys want. And this one is for me." Could basically just ignore that one. Bastard wasn't getting one word from me. "And this one here is to hang up."

Ooo, that was new. On the other one, if Edward called, I didn't have the option to hang up. He would just call my name over and over again from the opposite line. The volume was just way too loud. But now… that was stupid to install that. Now I didn't have to talk to him at all.

Unless I wanted to get out of here that is…

And then he was gone. I stared at the phone, unable to look back up at him. I just heard the door close and I was by myself.

He left the food.

I swallowed hard, feeling lump, a tightening, in my chest. Oddly uncomfortable. I couldn't get out of here. I was trapped. I could never talk to Edward, never give in to anything he wanted, tried so hard to get. Yet I had to. I had no other choice.

I had no other choice.

I pressed the three way call button and slowly brought the phone to my ear.

They picked up on the first ring, at the same time.

"Bella!" they shouted together.

And then I could breathe again. And I could think again. And function. I just needed this. I just needed to know there were other things other than this room and Edward.

/

I read.

I read like you wouldn't believe. Edward put every single book ever written in every single genre it seemed like on those shelves. I aimed towards the classics. Jane Austen mostly. I timed it out so I was never reading whenever Edward came in.

He was never going to see me reading any of his books. Ever. I can give in to him, but just as long as he didn't know I was giving in to him then it was fine…

It had been weeks. At least a month by now. The time dragged on, almost painfully, and I felt as if I were ripping my hair out. Nothing to do. Nothing. I had a clock, nailed right to the wall, and I sat there, counting down the seconds until the next minute. An hour would pass, and then another. Soon it was night, and I'd sleep. Then I'd wake up, repeat my routine, until the week was over and I got to start again.

And again.

And it dragged on so slow.

Over a month. It had to be over a month. That first week was hell, I remembered it clearly. I should have been marking the days somewhere . . .

How had no one found me by now? Charlie was a cop for fucks sake. If I had been gone for a month, someone should have been searching. Someone must have found out Edward had kidnapped us, or at _someone_ had kidnapped us.

Edward may have been rich enough to pay off the police department, but there was no way he could pay Charlie off to give up on me.

I got sad, too.

I felt this kind of depression only a few times in my life. The first time I felt it was when my family and I moved from phoenix and into the small fuck town of Forks, where it rained all day and was cold every second of every minute all year round.

I felt it for a solid month and half after the cops pulled my mom and I over in one of the cars we jacked. It just got worse during her trial, and reached a climax when they put her in jail.

And once more when my mom told me not to visit her in prison any more.

It brought horrible, horrible memories along with it. I could feel the sadness creeping in on me when I moved into the library to sit and read for hours.

I felt it sneaking up my spine and into the depths of my mind when I lay down on the bed and stare at the ceiling.

I felt it after Edward left the room, and I knew I would be alone with the same surroundings for another five hours or so.

But you know, there were things I had wanted to do. Dreams I had. Goals I had set up for myself since I was ten.

The minute I turned eighteen I was out of here. Out of the town that only saw me as the child of a criminal. From the town that disowned me because of something I had no control over. I'd visit Charlie, of course. I loved him. But this town was dead to me. I'd go to any college anywhere out of the state, whatever college would accept me, and I'd get a major in creative writing and minor in early eighteenth century literature.

I'd write.

I'd travel. Everywhere. I'd go to Rome and tour the coliseum. I'd visit Japan and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. I'd go everywhere, and nothing would stop me.

Except this.

This would stop me. Being locked inside a room, I mean. By a criminal.

And you know what, no. No, I was not being prejudiced against Edward. Yeah, sure, my mom was a criminal too, but Edward killed people. He bought out the cops. The most my mom did was steal cars for people. Gave her a nice profit too, apparently. A profit that set my father and I in a world of debt . . .

I picked my phone up off of the bed side table and called Alice. I listened to the phone ring. And ring. And ring some more. I ended the call.

Rose? No answer.

I sighed and placed the phone on the table, standing so I could move to the bathroom. I turned every shower head on, spraying half the room with water. I stood back and took a deep breath in, feeling the steam coat the entire room. Warm. Hot. Relaxing.

I shed my clothes and gently unwrapped the brace from my hand before walking into the showering water. I felt my muscles loosen, my mind wander.

I remembered my mom so well. Her blue eyes and her blonde hair. I remembered her smile and her laugh and every single time she brought me along to take a car because we couldn't afford a baby sitter. Charlie was at work most days. He couldn't watch me.

I pulled my shampoo from the floor and poured it into my good hand, rubbing it roughly into my scalp.

Last time I saw her was when I was eleven years old. Why was I starting to forget her then, if it had been so recent? It had only been six years ago. Just six years. I was old enough to have memories. And this one should have stuck with me for a long time, shouldn't it have?

I mean, she pulled me into a high speed car chase. I sat in the passenger seat as they threw spikes on the road and our car spun out on flat tires. I sat a foot away from her as ten cops surrounded the car with raised guns and I was ripped from her side by a man in a bullet proof vest.

So why couldn't I remember the clothes she wore, the car we had stolen that we were caught in. Why couldn't I remember if she had a dimple on the right cheek or the left cheek? What had she made me for breakfast? What did her laugh sound like? Her favorite color or food or flower.

Conditioner. I lathered my hair up and combed through it with my fingers.

Eggs? Was it eggs that she made that morning? Or did she just pour me a bowl of cereal?

Lavender body wash, scrubbed so hard into my skin it turned raw and red.

I did, however, remember the pride. Oh, how sweet that pride was. That my mother, a female, was a criminal. Wasn't the cliché that the father was the criminal, covered in tattoos and a wife beater? Yea, no, it was my mom. A woman was the criminal. And I was her accomplice.

The rush.

And adrenaline.

Coursing through me as we sped away in the new car.

As she dropped me off on a corner in the middle of the night to drop the car off to the buyer, and come back an hour later, to find me in the same spot, almost the same position exactly, in our car. That envelope of cash, thick and heavy, resting at my feet.

I was a criminal.

My mom was the master mind.

And I had felt so . . .

_Empowered_.

She made that fire and fight erupt inside of me. She made it roar into a fiery beast that took over me, drove me out of control every single time. And I loved it.

I turned the water off, moving down the line of knobs until everyone was shut off. I stood, holding onto the last shower head for support and tried to get a hold of my breath.

Damn Edward. Damn him. He made me feel this way. He made these memories come back and he made this depression and sadness and—and _regret_ come back.

I grabbed a towel from the linen closet and wrapped it around my body before leaving the room. I grabbed underwear and a bra, some shorts and a t-shirt. I turned back to the bathroom when I saw him. He was leaning against the door, in a beige suit, cream shirt, golden tie. He watched me as I paused to take him in, and then move back into the bathroom to change.

I threw the towel in a corner and brushed my hair quickly before I came back out.

"Edward." I said quietly, moving to sit on the couch. "To what do I owe the lovely pleasure of having you visit me without food?"

He didn't smile, like he always did.

I rested my feet on the table and watched him watch me. "Isabella." He said softly, all the while resting his hands in those gorgeous pants of his and gazing at me evenly. "We need to talk."

I splayed my hand out in front of me, allowing him to go on. "Spit it out."

"We need to talk about what we are going to do with you." He said after a while, watching me closely.

I stayed as quiet as I could, tried reining my expression in closely. But I was excited. So far beyond excited that there really wasn't a name for it, was there? I did it. He hated me and I did it. I was out of here. I was going to be one of those girls dumped on a sidewalk.

I wonder, though, what he was going to do to keep me quiet like the other girls…

He removed his hands from his pockets and walked over to me slowly, sitting in the small arms chair across from me. I removed my feet from the table to make more room between us. He noticed.

"I've . . . noticed your recent behavior." He started slowly, green eyes gazing into my own. "Your lack of fire and fight, to be more specific."

I cracked a smile. Bastard did see things after all.

"So I think it's time to get you out of here."

"Finally." I groaned, sitting up straighter. "Took you long enough you sick fuck. Shouldn't you know that all I want is to get out of this hell hole? Christ."

He cracked a smile a shook his head, looking down at the hands he clasped in his lap.

"No, no. You misunderstand." He said quietly.

"No . . ." I said slowly. "No, you said I'm leaving here."

"Yes, you are leaving here." Edward agreed, nodding his head. "As my wife."

I choked. On air. I sat still, my throat locked, eyes wide, unable to look away. He was—I had heard him wrong, that was all. I had heard him wrong . . .

"You obviously know of my . . . line of work." He went on, looking back up at me. "You know what I do. How I make my money. And how . . . popular I am. How popular my family is. But there are . . . expectations and- and images we need to set up.

"Once Carlisle steps down as head of the family, the sons take his place. That's Jasper. And Emmett. And even myself. And we cannot be respected until we have something that is ours, that we can show we have by our side at all times. So the other families know that we have respect from the one person that matters the most. Do you understand?"

He looked at me with raised eyebrows, asking me to understand, almost begging me. I remained still, and unthinking, a frozen statue.

"Look, it may seem ironic, but the top families, the head honchos or whatever you want to call them, go by old traditions. They need a wife by their sides to be respected. The biggest insult, the biggest joke you can be, is a man without a wife. Which is why my brothers and I have been searching so hard for one. But I'm running out of time. Carlisle grows tired and we grow older. The time has come where we must take on a spouse and, well, it's you. You are going to be my wife. You are going to marry me."

"No." I said quietly, starting to shake my head. "No, no, no. I'm-I'm not doing that. What… what are you talking about? I thought I was just here for you to mess around with like a toy or whatever! What are you doing?"

My voice raising and instead of my usual anger, I feel fear. Pure fear that entraps my entire mind. This man here is telling me my life is taken and he has it within his palm. He has things that cannot possibly be true. Outrageous, horrible, horrible things.

"Isabella, please. It's done. It's decided. But this is better, I promise you. You can do anything you want. If you wish to still be a writer, I can pay for the best education. If you wanted to travel I would accompany you and take you to only the best places, and buy you only the best clothes, the best everything—"

"But I want to do those things on my own!" I shouted, cutting him off. "I don't want some man to pay for my college. That's what I'm supposed to do! I'm supposed to work my ass off until I can afford even a month of school, and then I'm going to live in a box and eat spagettio's for a month! That's what _I'm_ supposed to do! Not you!"

"Isabella, please. If you want, you can work. You can work if you want. I'll get you into any job you want and you can work for college. Anything you want. Bella, anything!"

"What makes you think you can just buy me into marrying you!" I shouted, clenching my fists. My heart. My heart was beating so fast, so, so fast.

"Because, Bella, I'm not only giving you anything you want. I'm giving your entire family everything they've ever needed."

I was quiet, listening. He knew he had me. He could see it in my eyes, the minute he mentions my family.

"Your fathers debts would be paid off and then some. He would be able to work less hours. He can buy food, real food, and not just a can of beans now and then. We'll get him a car that works. Every bill will be paid. And you mother, Renee. She'll be released from prison. She will be given a new identity to be allowed to live a normal life. She'll be given so much riches she won't know where to put them. She'll be given a life she never had before. She'll never have to steal cars to get money, never have to bring you along because she couldn't afford anyone to watch you."

It felt as if my heart had stopped beating a while ago, like I couldn't breathe. It felt as if someone were squeezing my lungs and it hurt so much. Hurt so bad.

"She'll be happy. Your dad will be happy. And I promise you, somehow, you'll be happy too. You won't be trapped within this room any longer. The sky is the limit. And even that may not be high enough. I'll buy you a ticket into the next fucking space launch if you wanted. I just need you to stand by my side and be my wife."

My legs. They gave out. The strength disappeared and I fell back onto the couch, clutching my hand to my heart as if to hold it within me. "She'd be out." I whispered, looking at the glossed table in front of me.

"Yes." He said quietly, all the while those eyes trained on me solely, watching me.

"He'd be free of debt." I asked breathlessly.

"Yes."

My mind racing.

Billions of thoughts circling, none seeming to stick.

Charlie would be happy. Mom would be free.

Mom would be free.

"Could-could I see her?" and tears, prickling the corners of my eyes. And they stung.

I looked up at him as he nodded. "If you agree to be my wife."

And there it was.

I'd be his wife. And my family is free of everything. And my mom. I get to see my mom.

My mom.

I get to see Renee.

And… and all I had to do was marry this man that has made me miserable. All I had to do was marry the man that millions of woman swooned over. All I had to do was hold a title that would mean nothing to me. Hold some meaning to others that would hold not nearly the same to me.

And in that second, I promised myself, I _swore_ to my very being, that the title I would hold next to this man would not mean an ounce of anything within me.

I looked at him more clearly.

And I nodded.

"Yes."

"Bella, you are agreeing?"

"Yes, Edward." I said quietly. "You hold to your promise, and I will be your wife."

**AN: So… **

**Please bear with me on the whole Renee thing. It becomes more important later in the story I promise. It pretty much defines Bella and who she is and what she becomes, so it's pretty vital to the direction I want to take this story.**

**Anyways, please review either way because I'd love to hear what you guys think. Am I crazy? Yes, no? Probably… Most definitely. But I like it :) and it's different. I mean, come on, how many stories have Bella's mom as the criminal? Crazy, right? Oh yea… but hey, I can't change it now so if you don't like it I'm sorry. I guess you could just stop reading or something. Or just tell me you hate it because I love those reviews just as much as the positive ones.**

**Anyways, review!**

**Justalil'obsessed**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Okay, here you go! I'm so shocked by the amount of reviews I had last time! They were amazing thanks for your support! I hope you like this chapter and please please please tell me what you think!**

**Justalil'obsessed**

I woke up slowly, painfully. I was numb. Not dead inside, just . . . numb. I rolled onto my side to watch the door until Edward came in. My fiancé, apparently. I cringed.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed and rested them on the cool floor. I needed to shower. I needed to not think about this.

I dreamt last night about Edward again. He was in the bedroom, the setting that had taken a hold of all my dreams lately. And he was kneeling in front of me, with a diamond ring in his hand. His lips were moving and I knew what he was asking, but I couldn't hear him, his voice, anything.

He got more desperate the more I couldn't hear what he was saying until finally he stood up, took my hand and placed the ring on my finger. And then he looked at me with those green eyes and suddenly his voice rang clear through the dream. "You're mine."

And I woke up. It was my own nightmare and I woke up in a cold sweat and a racing heart. I was terrified, yet I didn't even think about doing anything about it. This was saving everyone I loved.

My shower was fast, after realizing that the warm water was doing nothing to relax me. I changed into the shorts and tank top I brought in with me, brushed my hair and teeth, and moved back into the bathroom.

It was strange, how instantly I noticed the door was open. I never looked at it first when I left the bathroom. After the first two weeks or so, I stopped looking, because I always knew it would be closed. But I just saw it. Wide open. Staring into that lighted hallway.

I looked around the room quickly, but I didn't see Edward, or anyone for that matter. But the door was open. My first thoughts were that this was a trick. But Edward had to have known I would literally find some way to shank him with a toothbrush if I walked through that door and he came out laughing and locked me back inside.

Slowly, so very, very slowly, I walked across the room. I stuck my head out and looked both ways. No one. Nothing. Was this a mistake? If it was then I was taking full advantage of this. I couldn't leave, of course. My mom wouldn't be free and my dad wouldn't be released from dept if I escaped. But if I could get out of that god awful room for just a few minutes . . .

I moved quickly down the hallway, down another. It was like a confusing maze. I couldn't remember how many turns I had taken before I came into a dining room. I remembered this room. Very well. I sat in here and was shitting my pants when I escaped from that infirmary room. Which would mean that doorway would lead to the front room.

I stepped out into the familiar checkered tiled room. I moved to the door. The alarm would go off, I knew that. But I just wanted to see outside, see where I was, smell something other than the air in this house, my room. I'd get caught in a heartbeat. But the allure was almost too much.

My hands trembled and shook as I reached for the handle. The brass was so cold. It sent a shock of Goosebumps up my arms. Something shot out from the corner of my eye and I gasped, moving away immediately.

Edward.

He was reaching for the alarm pad, his long fingers pressing buttons. He was wearing a black button down shirt and jeans. White shoes. His face was blank. Not upset, not happy. No smile or scowl. I couldn't read him at all, and all I could do was stand and watch.

A series of beeps sounded off and Edward stepped back, away from me. "It'll be easier to go outside without an alarm and five guys with guns pouncing on you." Edward explained.

I swallowed, thickly. He was letting me go outside. He was letting me do it. "Bella, it's okay." Edward said softly. "You can go outside."

And he just looked so convincing, so serious. He couldn't be joking, could he? Slowly, so slowly, I moved to open the door again. He stood and watched me and I waited to see if he would stop me. If someone would stop me. But I was turning the handle and I was opening the door.

And he was just watching me.

"Thank you." I said quietly, my chest tightening.

And I moved outside.

I had never seen the world so beautifully before. I had never appreciated the blue sky or the fresh air like I was right now. I stepped onto a wooden porch that wrapped around the front of the white house. The boards creaked beneath my bare feet when I moved down the stairs.

I paused before I stepped onto the pathway and moved faster along the path until I was on the lawn, until I was on the grass and the dirt. "It's so beautiful." I said in awe, looking around me. The house was huge, I soon realized. A mansion. Didn't really surprise me. It seemed to have an older look to it, but I knew the inside was anything but old.

The farmer's porch added a beautiful touch, with a patio in the right corner wrapping around and out of sight. The house was surrounded a huge lawn, and the perimeter was scattered with dense trees. I turned around and around and I felt as if I could not get enough, couldn't see enough.

I turned around until I grew so busy that I fell down, onto my back. I stayed there, though, and looked up at the sky. So clear. And blue. I counted a total of five clouds. It was cool outside, perfect, for what I was wearing anyways.

I could feel him watching me. Could feel those eyes trained solely on me and I found it hard to ignore the man I would soon be married to.

"Are you going to put me back in there." I asked finally. I couldn't hear him walking but he was suddenly sitting next to me, resting his arms on his knees.

"No." he said after a while. "I'll never do that to you again, Bella."

I sighed. I found another cloud when I spoke again. "You already did it once, Edward."

Silence.

"Are you going to stay out here?" he asked quietly.

"For a while, yea."

He sat next to me for a moment longer before he finally stood up, where he paused once again. "Things are going to be better from here. From now." He promised.

I nodded my head, to fancy him into leaving me. He must have known, because he did just that. Leave. I rolled onto my stomach when I heard the front door close and started picking the grass beneath me.

Things were going to be different? He was still a cocky prick. Could still lock me up if I pissed him off. But I would do it, live with it. If he could deal with the shit I did to him while in that room, he could deal with anything. I had thrown everything I had at that guy inside that room. Everything. And he was unfazed.

I heard someone moving around the house and I sat up quickly, watching until a man moved around the corner. He wore a lose top, khaki shorts. His skin was tanner, darker, and his hair was black. He looked to be about Edwards age. He paused when he saw me and smiled before nodding.

"No need to be scared." He called out. "I'm one of Edward's men. Seth. You must be Bella, right?"

I nodded my head slowly. I saw the gun clearly on his hip. That seemed to be all I could look at. He followed my gaze until he found what was making me freeze and turned quickly, moving the gun out of my sight.

"Oh man, I'm sorry Bella. That's just for protection. I'm here for you. For your protection I swear." Seth said quickly, moving towards me with raised hands. I stood up quickly.

"Why do I need protection?" I snapped, backing away from him. He looked ripped, strong muscles, strong jaw and demeanor. He seemed nice enough though. But . . . he had a gun.

I watched him stop once he realized how horrified I was of him. "Well . . . you are Edward Cullen's fiancé."

I looked at him, waiting for him to explain, but for him, that seemed to have been enough. "Am I in danger?" I asked slowly, lowering my hands.

Swallowing audibly, Seth took a step back. "I'm not sure if I should be the one telling you—"

"Seth." I snapped, moving forward, not so much afraid of him and his gun anymore. More afraid that someone real might actually hurt me. Not this big teddy bear.

"Bella, please, I think Edward should tell you—"

"Seth damn it if I am in danger tell me." I was in front of him now, and I was poking him in his rock solid chest, hurting my finger probably more than I was hurting him. "And if you don't tell me then— I don't know I'll do something. I'm going to be Edwards wife, I'll figure something out."

"Okay, okay, calm down." He rushed out. Huh, I guess the Edward threat would be useful. "Edward's a—a high profile criminal. He's- um- notorious and has a lot of connections and he's one of the top on the food chain."

"I don't care about that." I groaned. "I know he's bad ass and shit. What I want to know is why the fuck I need a man around me who has a gun!"

Wincing, Seth took a cautious step backwards, which I followed. "Alright, okay. With Edwards connection and rise to the top with his entire family, you know, he, um, he has enemies, too. He has people whom he stole the top from and they want it back and, well . . ."

"Well?"

"Well, they're willing to-er- kill. They want to kill for the spot back." Seth said quietly. "I thought he told you already. I'm sorry Bella I thought he had told you already."

But it was like he was trying to stop a moving train, because I was already walking past him and into the house.

You know, I had to have been on a different level of anger to willingly enter the house that I had been trapped inside for weeks. I was . . . livid. Furious.

Scared.

I knew the kitchen or cooking area or whatever was to my right, and the dining area and rooms were straight. The only other way was to my right. Fuming, I stomped past the staircase and into a sitting area. No seats were occupied, although I heard voices in the connecting room. No . . . not voices. Music. Beautiful, but—horrible. Ever heard of someone transferring their emotions into music? Yea, I never thought it was true either. Until now. I slowed down, only slightly, and listened to the heart wrenching music, the pain. It ripped through me at a surprisingly fast rate and I was . . . shocked.

But it did nothing to stop my anger. Nothing at all.

The door swung open and I hit it with such force it slammed into the wall behind it. The room inside was large, open. I noticed the piano in the corner, resting atop an elevated area. The floor was a light brown wood, and on top an elaborate carpet was a set of white furniture. A man sat behind the piano, Edward.

Edward had made that music? Impossible. But obviously it was.

He sat frozen, the music stopping, looking over at me as I stood panting with rage in the doorway.

"Bella." He said, pushing the piano stool back and standing up. He had the audacity to look concerned. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong, Edward?" I said slowly, staying where I was. If I got closer to him I might hit him. And I had never hit anyone before and that was a fact I prided myself on. But . . . I would hit him. I was sure of it. Then what would happen to my mom and dad? "When were you going to tell me that I might die? That I need a guy with a fucking gun to breath down my neck at all hours of the day?"

"Bella—"

"Edward! No! You are going to tell me what's going on here." I yelled, pointing a sharp finger at him. "You are going to tell me what I am up against here, what's going to happen in the next year, or month, or week, or for the rest of my fucking life, Edward. I deserve to know if I'm going to get shot in the head the minute I go get some strawberries at the fucking grocery store!"

Okay. I was done. My tantrum was over.

And Edward was looking at me odd.

"Fucking Seth." He muttered quietly. "Fine, sit down." He sighed, moving to the sickly white love seats. Pausing for only a moment, I moved over to the couch and collapsed into the corner. Edward sat on the same couch, but oddly I wasn't as disgusted. Which was a good thing, figuring I was going to be called his wife and all.

"What did Seth tell you?" he started.

"How do you know Seth told me anything at all?" Which he had, but I hated how he thought someone had to tell me for me to figure out I was in danger. Which I did… but that was besides the point.

"Bella, please."

"Fine." I snapped, crossing my arms. I wanted to know, anyways, might as well not be a bitch. Or at least not a big one. "He said you have enemies willing to kill to get you and your family out."

He nodded his head slowly, agreeing, looking at me closely. "My great grandfather Stephen started working for the local mob organization during the alcohol prohibition. He started working on the docks first and helped smuggle the alcohol in past the cops. Then he worked himself up from the inside until he started organizing the distribution of the alcohol.

"Sooner or later he got his own men and was able to start running his own operation next to a man called Aro. Together they flew to the top of the organized crime scale but suddenly alcohol was legal again. So they had to move to a new . . . product."

Edward paused here and looked away from me for the first time. "You're not talking about drugs are you? Holy shit Edward you're a drug dealer!"

"Bella, for fucks sake calm down!" Edward snapped. "My great grandfather wanted to do more specific jobs. Aro was the one who wanted to do drugs and organized crime. Stephen persuaded him to go down a different route, okay?"

"Which was?"

Edward scowled. "Robberies. They became high profile robbers."

I snorted and crossed my arms. "You expect me to believe that your great uncle stole shit for money?" like my mom did.

"No, he didn't 'steal shit'." Edward mocked in a snobby voice. I glared. "His robberies were extremely precise. He stole things for people, they paid him to do it. They became the best around. But that wasn't enough for Aro. It was too soft for him, not enough danger. He wanted the drugs and the weapons and the fear. He wanted people to control and he wanted people who wouldn't go against him. Stephen only wanted to stick with robbery. So they broke apart.

"The men who followed Aro from the beginning left too, and they became two different gangs. Stephen led the Cullen's. Aro led the Volturi. Ever since the split they've each been struggling for the spot at the top. Stephen fought back because Aro would control the entire drug trade, corrupt everything, if he had that power. He passed down the belief to his son, his son to his son, and so forth, until now.

"The Volturi are still very much alive. They fund and sell more than half of the drugs on the streets around the entire world. But they still want the top. We have the connections in the police stations that far exceed theirs. They need our resources and our power. We need to keep it away from them. And it's gotten to a point where blood is being shed continuously about the entire debate."

Edward sighed and shook his head. "Look, I do illegal shit, alright? Everyone knows I do. But I don't get into the drugs or the prostitution or executions. I just rob places for very important people."

Biting my lip, I looked at him closely. He looked . . . sincere. And stressed. Worried? About what? That I'd take back my deal to be his wife? Come on he was getting my mom out of fucking jail I wasn't going back on that.

"Edward, I just need to know how real the threat of me getting shot in the fucking head are." I said finally.

He looked up at me then, sternly, his eyes solid and severe. "I will never let any member of the Volturi or anyone else close to you. Ever. You will forever be safe, Bella. And as a person who can break through any security system, I can promise you one I can't even get through."

I bit my cheek and contemplated this.

Maybe I believed him. Maybe I didn't. That didn't matter. What mattered was if I was willing to die for this. But was _this_, specifically.

"Edward, what are we doing?" I asked. "What is this? What's going to happen?"

He sighed long and loud again. "You will be my wife." He said simply.

I rolled my eyes and fought the urge to shout. "No, Edward. Tell me how things are going to go the minute I stand up to leave this room. What's going to happen to me, my life. How is it going to change. When is it going to change. I need to know Edward."

He contemplated me for a moment before nodding. Agreeing? "Yes, you're right. You do need to know. But I can't be the one to tell you because I don't know." I swallowed my anger back thickly. He had more to say. "But my mother, Esme, knows. You'll be meeting her at dinner tonight, and I can give you a seat next to her so she can explain. I'm just not equipped to tell you how mentally unstable things might get."

"But how can your mom tell me?" I asked.

He looked at me as if I were stupid. "Carlisle abducted her from her house when she was eighteen and locked her in a room for three weeks."

…..

How did I feel about dinner, you might be wondering.

Allow me to tell you.

I had thrown up four times already and I hadn't even eaten. I felt like I had a tape worm in my intestines and a migraine was ripping through my skull. My hands hadn't stopped shaking since about an hour ago, and I started sweating maybe thirty minutes ago.

Oh, but I got a different room, at least.

It was a lot smaller, since I could have the rest of the house and didn't need as much space as the other room had. Although being in there for as long as I did made it seem smaller than the one I had now.

The room was darker, with a deep green and gold bed spread and pillows and a carpet beneath it with gold and black intertwining threads. The walls were a dark purple, and my dresser was dark wood. The floor, beside the carpet beneath the bed, was a darker wooden floor than the wood I had seen in the rest of the house. I got my own bathroom again, too, which I loved.

I personally thought the room looked like shit, though.

I mean, everyone says green a purple go good together, like their complementary, but they look horrible together, in my opinion. But I refused to spend any more than five minutes in a room this small anyways.

Funny, how suddenly I had claustrophobia . . .

But the thing was, I had been inside this room for close to three hours now. I came in to check it out, then I had my panic attack. After I felt like my breathing had leveled out again, I took a shower and brushed my hair.

After my second panic attack was when I started throwing up. Knowing I would throw up on the hallway if I left the room, and knowing that I might get shot in the head for doing so, I stayed in the room.

And why, you might ask, was I freaking out?

Because I was going to be eating at the same table as Emmet, Jasper, Edward, Esme, and mother fucking Carlisle.

Edward himself had admitted that they were the top of the top.

So Carlisle being the top of the top of the top meant he was the fucking bomb. He was the bomb with a gun and could shoot me under the table any minute he wanted to.

Edward said dinner was being served at seven. Which mean it had ten minutes before I either died or . . . well I wasn't sure what the other option could be.

The one thing Edward did tell me to expect about this whole marriage scam, however, was that I had to do things with him. Like eat dinner with his family. And be paraded by his side as a trophy.

So . . . I either do as he says and get my dad and mom free of prison and debt, or I sit in my room until Edward tells me the deal is off and returns me home so I can look at all the money my dad owes every time I get the bills from the mailbox and I can look at the empty rocking chair my mom used to sit in when she was still here.

So yea, I knew I had to go to dinner. Didn't mean I wanted to.

I had what I was wearing on already. Just a simple gray dress. It fell to a few inches above my knees, and hugged my bodice tightly before flaring out at the hips. It was a chalky grey too, which I liked.

It looked good on me, what could I say. And I wasn't trying to impress anyone, don't get me wrong. I just didn't want to under impress anyone either.

I still had no idea what could get me thrown in front of a train here.

I put flats on, since I thought heels would be pushing it. Red flats, with this cute little flower on the toes. Slowly, I stood up and stared at the flowers, clicking my heels together like Dorothy. Maybe I'd wake up in my own bed, and this would be a terrible nightmare . . .

But it wasn't, because I was walking from my room, and making my way to dinner.

I was about to eat dinner with the fucking Cullen gang.

They were all there, when I walked in. The men looked up when I entered the room and upon seeing me, they pushed their chairs back and stood up. I froze. Had I already done something wrong?

"Bella." Edward said, looking me up and down. Ah, this was the first time he had seen me out of sweats and baggy shirts. He looked like he was enjoying what he was seeing enough, however. Too much. I cleared my throat, bringing his eyes back up to my face. "Please sit."

I looked around the room at Emmett and Jasper, closest to me. They were smiling at me warmly, as if they knew secretly that deep down I wanted to shit my pants. And Carlisle sat at the head of the table, with Esme sitting next to him, and an empty seat between her and Edward. At the other end of the table were a few more men. Seth I recognized. Then there was a guy I vaguely remembered, with a faint scar on his temple. There were five more men, crowded around the table, standing up and watching me.

Esme was the only one sitting right now, I noticed. Apparently standing up was polite or something for the men. Slowly, moving so I didn't trip on anything, I walked around the table to the opposite side and stood there. Was it rude to sit before they sat?

"Just sit, dear." Esme whispered quietly next to me. I looked at her nervously, but her smile was too soft and sweet to make me nervous for too long.

Slowly I lowered myself into the plush chair. The minute I was sitting, the men followed suit, and before I could utter a word, four people in white uniforms came strolling in with salad bowls, placing them in front of us.

I looked to Edward, surprised. Of course the rich fuck had cooks. He smiled cockily at me as he pushed a pike of lettuce into that sexy mouth of his.

"So Bella," Emmett said from across the table, snapping my attention back to the terrifying situation at hand. The men at the other end of the table, the men I assumed were their top body guards or something, had begun conversing loudly again, moving into their salads like animals. I mean, come on. It was fucking salad. "Do you plan on going back to high school?"

This had been another thing I talked to Edward about. High school. I had every intention of going back, and I argued for at least an hour on the subject with Edward. He said it wouldn't be safe there for me to go. I told him I'd keep the engagement a secret or something. Somehow, I wasn't even sure maybe it was my sexy voice, but somehow he caved in. Apparently we were only about an hour outside of Forks anyways so he'd just get a place a bit closer and drive me in or something.

"Oh, yea—I mean yes. Yes, I'm going back to High school." I winced at my stuttering stupidity. "I talked to Edward about it and convinced him. I just think it's important for me to finish out my education you know."

Nodding in nervous embarrassment, I dropped my head and stabbed a cucumber, popping it into my mouth.

"You're not nervous about the other students and their reactions to . . . the engagement to Edward?" Esme asked. She really had a kind voice, and she was beautiful. Her black hair was pulled softly behind her shoulders in a piece of blue twine. She wore a dress as simple as mine that flattered her in a stunning way. It was kind of hard not to hate her as much as I hated everyone else at this table.

Edward snorted next to me, and I kicked him under the table, shutting him up. "I was going to wait a while until everyone found out on their own about it." I said. "But no, not really. If they find out, I know I can take care of myself."

Edward was shaking next to me, trying not to laugh. Yea, keep smiling you fucker. Just know that you are locking yourself down into a sexless marriage.

"Oh, yea, Edward's told us about your . . . independent attitude." Jasper commented, smiling at Edward. I looked over in time to see the smile disappear off of Edwards face.

"What did he say, exactly?" I asked.

"He said you could make a sailor cringe." Emmett snorted. I stuffed my mouth with lettuce to give myself a reason not to talk. Fucking Edward. I hated him.

"Bella." I looked over to Esme, smiling. "Don't you think kids are going to become suspicious, when you go back? You've been gone for two months."

I choked on my food and had to have Edward slap me on the back a few times. By the time I had gagged the lettuce up into my bowl again, the entire table was silent and staring.

"Two months?" I asked Esme, just to make sure. I had to have heard her wrong. But she was nodding, concerned, rubbing my back to sooth me once Edward backed off.

I looked back down at my plate and tried to control my anger. I had thought it had been a month. Not _two_ _whole_ fucking months. I can't believe I was marrying this guy.

Shaking my head, I turned back to Esme, having every intent to ignore Edward the rest of the night. "I guess people are going to ask question." I admitted, shrugging. Slowly everyone eased back into their conversations, and my blush could ease off a little. "But they can shove it because they know they're not getting anything out of Bella Swan. They know better."

Esme smiled and chuckled to herself, turning back to her salad. "I guess I can see why Edward noticed you." She said quietly. I wasn't sure if she had been talking to me, or to herself, but I heard it either way. And either way I ignored it.

They gave out chicken next. Looked way to fancy and complicated for me. I looked at Esme, since she had become my sort of alliance at the table. "What is this?" I whispered.

"I'm not sure. Looks like chicken, but that sauce looks funny." She whispered that, picking through the things on the table. "Carlisle thinks I shouldn't be slaving over a stove because I'm his wife. He just doesn't like to see me on my feet. But I love cooking. And it certainly is a lot simpler than this."

I smiled and grabbed my knife and cut through the chicken breast. Edward was talking across the table to his brothers, who were talking to Carlisle, who was shouting down at the end of the table to the men sitting there. It was all very loud and crazy. I tried listening in but got too confused and stopped trying.

But Edward was speaking next to me and his voice was just too sexy to ignore. "We can't get in through the top window. The weight of the dome with a piece missing will collapse it in." Edward said, completely ignoring his food.

"Right, but what if we apply metal beams for support?" Emmett suggested.

"Attach it to what? It's complete glass." Jasper said, his mouth full of chicken.

Seth leaned across Emmett then, wiping the sauce or whatever shit was on the chicken off of his mouth. "Jasper's right. There's no place to suction the supports on. It's a unique dome. I'm not even sure how it was constructed."

Emmett pushed him away and grabbed whatever drink was in front of him, looked like coke. "Well the ring's in the vault. That's easy enough to get in to." Emmett said, placing his cup down. "That's in his study. Which would have been too far from the dome anyways. Too risky. He has two cameras set in every room except his bedroom and the bathrooms. Those rooms have their own separate ventilation systems and their own drainage systems and are not set against an outside wall. There's no way to get into those rooms."

"What if we can disable the cameras?" The guy next to Seth asked. He was the one who looked familiar. Where from, though? I hadn't seen anyone outside of the room until now.

"How do you plan on doing that James?" Edward asked, annoyed.

"I don't know, cut some wires." He said stupidly. I couldn't help it. I snorted. Their heads turned my way and I blushed. "Well do you have some genius plan?" the guy named James asked, insulted.

With everyone's eyes on me, I blushed once again and shrugged. "I don't even know what you guys are talking about."

"Nothing—" Edward tried.

"We need to get into some guys house." Emmett said, cutting him off. I saw Edward shoot him a warning glance out of the corner of my eyes, which he ignored, just like me. "Their alarm system is less advanced than ours, but their response time is outstanding."

They were still looking at me. Might as well say something. I looked at Esme who seemed just as confused as me. "Um, okay." I said nervously. "Why doesn't one of you set off the alarm at the opposite end of the house? Then someone breaks in on another side and disables the system while the other guy who first set it off gets away but everyone is going crazy at that end of the house trying to get him. Then you guys sneak in easy peesy lemon squeezy."

James snorted, but the rest of the guys were looking contemplative. James sobered up. "You can't be seriously." He asked. "That is so beneath what we are known for doing!"

"Hey, buddy." I snapped. "Is, I don't know, cutting some _wires_ what you guys have a fucking reputation for?" That shut him up.

And then they were back in the conversation as if I hadn't spoken. "We could send Casper and Vincent in towards the back window. Then maybe Karl and Hugo through the other corner. Send some shots off to get as many guys over there as possible. Then we can send Jeremy in to get the fucking alarm off through the front door. Get him out. Get us in through the top windows like we had planned anyways."

"I don't want Hugo though." Jasper said, shaking his head. "He gets too excited when he hears the guns going off. Too immature. Let's put Kevin on it. Maybe get three more guys."

"Too many." Edward disagreed. "No way to get them all out."

"How do we get them in?" Seth asked. "Through the fence I mean."

"Dig under it." I joked. Again they stopped for a minute and stared at me. "Oh you have got to be kidding me you guys don't but sensor shit under the ground?"

Silence.

I shook my head. "Stupid." I muttered.

"Alright that works out great, actually. We want them to seem amateur anyways, like a couple of punk kids, so digging under the fence suits that perfectly. Jeremy can set up his bug too. We'll get him to log on and get some footage tomorrow to replace with later."

And then I tuned them out. Got too complicated for me.

Fancy robberies my ass. They just took a plan from a seventeen year old girl who was joking around. I felt something brush my leg gently and I peeked over at Edward. He was talking to his brothers as if nothing had happened, but I knew it was on purpose.

I just didn't like that electricity that was shooting up my legs right now.

"So, Bella." My head snapped up, cheeks stuffed with chicken, to Carlisle. This was the first time he had spoken to me. He smiled softly at me, which did nothing in the slightest to calm me. "About your mother."

And I swear to god I almost passed out. I really did. I felt it swoon over me and the world disappeared for a minute. But something sharp hit my leg and I snapped back into the real world. I focused on Carlisle, made his shape become one instead of two. I ignored Edward, instead silently thanking him for pinching me.

That would have been the most embarrassing thing imaginable . . . But Carlisle went on as if nothing had happened.

"She seems to be locked in maximum security. She's been pinned for numerous things, so it should take us about a week to release her. If everything goes to plan, she should be out by next Tuesday." Carlisle said. "Now, the people who locked her in got her because someone ratted her out. So we are going to have to give her a false identity to hide her from the people who want her in jail."

"Wait, I'm sorry." I said, holding my hands up. "Someone wants her in jail? Besides the entire government and whoever she stole the cars from, I mean."

Carlisle looked at Edward, eyebrows raised. "Well, yes. She became too much of a risk for the people she was working for."

"That is complete bullshit!" I yelled standing up in fit of my rage. Just as quickly I sat back down, realizing what I was saying, and who I was saying it too. I'd talk to someone else about this later. Specifically Edward.

"Okay." I said, calming my breathing. "Alright. So I'll see her soon. That's all that matters." I didn't really mean to say it out loud, but I meant it. I would see her later. It would be alright and I could see my mom again

"I was wondering, Carlisle said slowly, causing me to look back over at him. "What exactly did you do when your mother brought you along?"

This surprisingly didn't upset me as much as I had thought it would. No one had really asked me outright so I guess I never would have known if this subject would have upset me or not. I swallowed the food I was eating and looked over at him. "Well mostly I'd fit down beneath the wheel because I was small and hotwire the car. Sometimes I'd have to go in through the engine to start it up, depended if it was automatic or not." I shrugged.

"Hm." Carlisle hummed, resting his folded hands on top of the table. Someone in a white coat came out and grabbed all of our empty plates. "Would you say you still know how to do it?"

"No." Edward snapped., standing up. "No way, Carlisle."

I looked up at him, and then back to Carlisle. I looked to the people all around the table. They all seemed to know what he was talking about. Everyone except me.

"Edward, please, sit." Carlisle asked politely.

"No, Carlisle." Edward snapped, grabbing my arm lightly and standing me up. "I will stand by you for anything else just not this. We do not bring her into it. We can find another guy."

"Carlisle, Edwards right." Esme said quietly. "She's just a girl."

"Edward, you're bringing her into this life, might as well do it willingly." Carlisle sighed.

"No." Edward said, moving me away from the table. I stumbled along behind him, looking over my shoulder at the table watching us leave. "And that's the end of it."

"Edward, he could totally shoot you in the balls." I whispered furiously.

"He's my father, Bella. Please remember that." Edward said coolly. He was walking me back to my bedroom, and didn't let me go until I was inside. I pulled my arm away instantly and kicked my shoes off, rubbing the red spot where he had held me so tightly.

"Screw you Edward." I spat. "What was that all about?" I asked, sitting on the bed that was too big for me. Edward was pacing around the room, looking agitated.

"Nothing."

"Edward, come on." I groaned.

"We've been having problems on a job and Carlisle made a reckless suggestion that I refused so it's off the table and it doesn't matter anymore." He said.

"Fine, whatever. I don't even care." I sighed, throwing my hands up in the air. "I'm going to bed. Get out."

I got up and moved to the bathroom, but he stepped in front of me and stopped me, placing his hands lighter on my shoulders. "Bella, listen to me." He said quietly, his eyes hot and sincere. "Nothing is ever going to happen to you. Ever. I'm going to spend every second protecting you. You're safe here. I promise."

I nodded, shocked by his sudden mood swings.

"I'll care about every little request you have, Bella." He continued, his voice lowering. "Every little thing you want or need or like, it's yours. I promise you. I'll care about every word you say. I'll care about everything you do. I'll care about you, Bella, and this life will be one you won't regret, I promise."

That was . . . a lot. Definitely a lot. The way he said it, while he touched me so lightly on the shoulders and stared at me so strongly, made my heart race and butterflies erupt in my stomach. I felt as if he was going to kiss me. I really thought it, just by how he looked, how he was acting.

"Oh, and I forgot to do this earlier. Properly, at least." And he was letting go of me and I could breath normally again. It must be his touch that sent me off. Like when he brushed my leg in the dining room. I can still feel the electricity from that touch.

But he dropped to his knee in front of me, and for a stupid moment I thought he was hurt. He pulled something from his pocket and looked up at me.

"Isabella Swan," he said slowly. Those eyes. Those eyes were so deep and bottomless and capturing. I couldn't look away, not when he looked at me like that.

"Will you marry me?"

And there was a small box, showed in front of me.

I spent countless hours thinking of this. Numerous dreams, fantasies, of how this would happen. I always thought it'd be in a fancy restaurant, with white table clothes you couldn't draw on with provided crayons. With two candles and a vase and a man, dressed in a suit, kneeling in front of me and smiling.

And I thought I'd love him too.

This wasn't so bad though.

I was standing in a dress more expensive than my entire wardrobe, in a house bigger than ten of my houses put together, and in front of the sexiest man I had ever seen. Spending the rest of my life like this? Could it actually be so bad?

Could it really?

Slowly I nodded my head, numb. Except it wasn't such a painful numb as I had felt just this morning. Was it only this morning?

I could do this. I could do it. I had dealt with breaking the law since I was five or something. I knew it. I guess I was even okay with it, no matter how screwed up that was. And Edward was rich. I wasn't one of those girls to need money to be happy. But it was a change that I think I could like.

He smiled and took the ring from the box, a band covered in tiny diamonds with the biggest one I had ever seen in the center. It felt so heavy on my finger. I couldn't look away from it, not until Edward grabbed my hand.

"I promise." He whispered.

And, oddly enough, for just a moment I believed him.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Hey you guys thanks for the reviews. I know a lot of you were wondering what happened to Rose and Alice, and I just thought that the last chapter should be about Bella and Edward and how things are going to start working with them and around them, but I should have at least somewhat included them so I'm sorry about that.**

**Anyways, to make it up, this chapter should explain Alice and Rosalie's situation as well. So . . . enjoy!**

**Justalil'obsessed**

I waved my hand in front of my face one more time, making sure the ring was still there, feeling the weight on my finger. Yes, it was still there. Still a giant diamond. Still worth more than my old house.

I sighed and dropped my hand to my side, focusing on the television once more. I watched the news again, third day in a row, waiting to see if I would be mentioned, or Alice, or Rosalie. But we were kept out of the news perfectly. I was kind of . . . glad. It would make it easier to get back into my life's routine without reporters up my ass all hours of the day.

I stood up after a while and stretched my back before moving to the side of the couch, watching the news all the while as I sat and stretched everything I knew how to. It was so relaxing, I found. I pulled something in my leg the other day, stretched it for a good half an hour, and found that I had been the most relaxed since I'd been here.

Breathing in, I relaxed my lower back and moved my arms until they extended to my toes, stretched out in front of me. I breathed out, closed my eyes.

Rose was on this floor. I had no idea where Alice was, but maybe Rosalie knew. I just had to get to her somehow. There could be no way to get to her, though, without convincing one of the brothers to let me see her. Until I officially tied the knot with Edward, I could do nothing wrong. But still . . . there was something off about me if I could not vent to my friends. I couldn't find my way back to my old room to find the phone to try to call them, and Edward hadn't been around for the past three days so I had no idea how to even talk to them.

I'd been completely alone in this house, other than the guards they had outside, and inside, and watching, watching, watching.

So I guess no . . . I never really was alone.

I folded my leg underneath myself and leaned forward, stretching the back of my leg. Breathing in, breathing out. Breathing in, breathing out.

I told Edward after he gave me the ring that I wanted to go to school before we got married. It'd be easier to hide what happened if I hadn't been married yet . . . he agreed, after a loud fight. So I figured I'd be going back by the end of the month, or the next one. It just made me sick though to imagine the amount of wok I was missing.

I switched legs, stretched more, breathed.

About four more days, too, until I saw mom. I smiled to myself and moved into the butterfly position, stretching the inside of my thighs.

Oh, and don't even get me started on the Xbox.

I found it in this room just the other day. Plugged that bad boy in to see what all the fuss was about. Something called Black Ops. And oh hot damn I sucked at that game. When I first started anyways . . . now I'm a fucking beast at it. You better watch out if you play with Bella Swan baby because you're getting sniped.

I put it away in the closet beside the table after every use, since I wasn't even sure if I was allowed to use it, but it helped kill time, it really did. It killed a billion brain cells too, sure, but on the up side, my hand eye coordination was exceptional now, after seven straight hours playing every day for three days.

There's just not a lot to do here, and if I have to resort to video games then—

The door to the living room slammed open, smashing into the wall behind it. Emmett came in, smiling and laughing. I recognized Seth, right behind him, punching Emmett in the shoulder. They stumbled in, fighting, laughing, joking, and it took them a whole solid minute to see me sitting on the floor staring at them, sitting in the butterfly position awkwardly.

They both froze mid step, Seth's arms raised in self defense, Emmett's hand raised in a punch, and they just stared.

"Oh shit." Emmet said finally, using his vast amounts of intelligence in that one smart sentence of his.

I finally found the fucker.

And he knew it, too.

I scrambled to my feet the minute my senses caught up to me, but Emmett had gained his back a lot sooner and was already backing away. "Oh, Bella, sorry, I thought you were somewhere else in the house. I just remembered though that I have something to do—"

"Emmett wait I've been wanting to talk to you—"

But he was still backing away to the door, looking behind him to see where he was going.

"So I'm just going to leave—" he continued.

"About Rosalie—"

"And you can have the room to yourself—"

"And I just want to know where she is—"

"And just continue doing whatever you were doing—"

"And just know she's safe cuz she's my friend—"

"And so I'll be . . . somewhere else—"

"And if you know where Alice is—"

"I just have a lot to do—"

"Because I'm really starting to worry."

"Because I've been procrastinating and stuff."

There was a long awkward silence in which I realized Emmett had been blocking out what I had said just as much as I had been blocking out what he said. Frowning, I stood my ground. Seth stood awkwardly to the side, looking back and forth between him.

"I got to go on patrol." He said after a while. Emmett sent him a horrified glance as he walked back out of the room, which he ignored.

"Emmett. We have to talk." I said seriously.

He backed away to the door, leading out to the sitting room. "I haven't eaten lunch yet, so I was just going to do that."

"Oh, okay, me either. I'll follow you."

He paused before slumping his shoulders and turning to leave the room. He knew I wasn't leaving him alone. And sure, I was crazy, but fuck you too. I loved my friends, and I needed to know where they were.

He walked like a man being sent to death row as we made our way to the kitchen, which obviously had me wondering just what exactly Edward had told me about them. I stayed silent as we walked, preparing my argument and accusations and insults and questions inside of my head first. I was getting answers one way or another, and I needed to know every possible way for that to happen.

We moved into the kitchen, the one that still blew my mind by how huge it was, and Emmett immediately set forward to making himself some sort of sandwich, doing it with such intensity that I knew he was trying to ignore me as best as possible. Which meant now was the perfect time to go in for the attack.

"So." I said carefree, hopping up onto the counter and sitting comfortably. He still wouldn't look at me and just focused on cutting the bread in half with such precision that shocked me. "I heard you were getting a little touchy touchy with Rosalie."

Still ignoring me.

"You know, like staying with her when she ate . . ." still staying quiet. "And giving her little gifts . . ." his silence was starting to bug me, and I scooted closer to him, determined. "And, like, kidnapping her and locking her in a room . . ."

His shoulders tensed, I saw it clearly, but he tried and failed to hide it. I could read him like a book. "Emmet, damn it look at me."

He looked up, surprised by the sharpness of my voice. I was surprised too, frankly. But he was looking, and I had his attention.

"Rosalie and Alice are my best friends. I've grown up with them and shared every secret I have with them. They know everything about me and I the same for them. I care for them, Emmett. And I want to know if they're okay. I _need_ to know if they're okay."

He furrowed his eyebrows and looked down at the counter, about an inch or two from my hand. "I really like her a lot, Bella." He said finally, quietly, and I almost missed it.

I sighed and looked down myself, at my dangling feet. "I figured."

"She's alright. Safe." He added. "I'd never do anything to hurt her. And . . ."

I looked over at him, eyebrows raised, waiting. But I figured it out from his silence just s much as I would have if he said it. "You're going to marry her."

Wasn't a question. It was a statement.

"Jasper's doing the same to Alice." He mumbled, going back to his sandwich. I looked back down at my feet again, too many emotions coursing through me to even begin to decipher them. "I like her a lot." He said again.

"Is she still in her room?"

"Yea, until the end of the day." Emmett sighed. In a second though, he had slammed the knife he was using onto the counter, making me jump. He was looking back up at me, frowning. "I wish I had never done that to her, Bella, I really do. It was how I was raised though, believing this was how my family did things, never believing that I could ever regret it. But I really like her, I really do, and thinking about putting her in there, for that long, isolated, alone. I—I'm never going to do that to her again, I promise."

I had looked away from him when he started talking, looked back down at my feet because the minute he started talking I knew he was telling the truth, and that, for some reason, hurt me more than the fact that he locked her in there. The fact that a criminal cared, seemed to love, my best friend. How did Rose feel, is what I wanted to know.

"Let me know when she gets out, please?" I asked quietly.

"Of course."

"Do you know where Jasper is?"

Emmet looked back down. "He's with Alice."

I bit my cheek and clenched my fists. "Doing what."

He paused for a moment before answering. "Proposing."

I hopped off of the counter and moved to exit the kitchen. "Bella." Emmett called out, stopping me at the door. I reluctantly turned around to look at him. "We wish we could have done things differently with you guys." He admitted. "We just never thought we'd, well, develop . . . feelings for you guys either. We're trying to do everything we can to take it back."

I walked out without answering anything and into the living room, which had become my white sanctuary. I felt scared, every time I sat on those couches, because literally anything could stain it, it was so white.

For a while I sat there, clenching and unclenching my fists, breathing heavily.

So many feelings, so many things just going through my mind that I couldn't catch any, and my heart was racing so fast, so unsteady. It felt like I was exploding and I didn't know what to do, like a pressure that couldn't be let out.

Rosalie was being put in danger. Alice was put in danger. Every person I cared for, everyone I loved, was put in danger and I had no idea what to do, I was so powerless. Because it seemed to me that the only way to get the people I loved out of danger was to put them in danger . . .

I tried to take breaths, but I couldn't breathe. How would they get Alice and Rose to marry them? Edward promised me my family's happiness. But Alice had her mom, and Rose's dad wasn't in debt up to his neck. They had money, cars, and nice lives and nice clothes. What could they use against them?

I stood to my feet and hopped up and down, shaking my hands. I needed to get the tension out, I needed to breathe and to think.

To think I needed to relax.

To relax I needed to breath.

To breath I needed to think.

Endless fucking self destructive circle.

My life was falling apart, but that didn't bug me nearly as much as the fact that everyone else's life was falling apart as well too.

I moved to the closet by the flat screen and pulled the Xbox out, hooking it up with shaking hands. I needed to kill something virtual.

I turned it on, pushed one of the smaller couches closer so the wireless remote could be read by the box and put the head phones on, navigating my way through the confusing system until I found the game. I wished it was easy, like I just pop the disk in and the game menu pops up, but instead these crazy fucking icons pop up and why the fuck is there even an avatar? What's he doing there like what's his point?

But I get into the game, and it can't move fast enough and I'm suddenly in the middle of a war zone, and I'm shooting and blowing things up and being violent with no consequences. I knife and I punch and I kill and I become someone so unlike Bella it's fascinating and things melt away, like I was a teenage guy.

Something was wrong with me.

…..

"No! The care package is coming in just turn around and go back to the bunker." Voices shouted and talked in my ears through the headphones, sounding foggy and distant. I had no idea you could block a tracking signal on Xbox live so no one could find you. Pretty cool, I thought at least.

"No, it's dropping by the east end by the fence." Someone mumbled into my ear.

"No dumb fuck just head back to the bunker. If you go over there alone you're dead and they get it!" I watched his dot move across the map on the top and a swarm of profanities came pouring out of my mouth as he was shot and they got the package.

"Damn it!" I yelled. "What the fuck did I tell you? What the fuck did I say? And why do you still have a sniper! I told you to get the automatic you piece of shit! Unless you want to sit on a rooftop the entire game get an automatic!"

"Dude they were going to get it if I didn't show up!"

"I was there man." Someone else buzzed in.

"I was on my way." Said another.

"You're such a piece of hit now they have a plane. Get in a fucking building." I mumbled, ducking for cover as the plane moved over the buildings.

I think I was on my second hour, not too sure. I played a zombie game, where I killed a bunch of zombies, but it wasn't the same. My thumbs had cramped up and gone numb a long, long time ago, and my eyes were straining and I was getting a head ache and I was hungry.

But I wasn't thinking of much anything else, so that was a plus.

"Go around the back, come up from the rear they got three guys in the square." I said, moving my guy through the map.

"No way they have more in the far east."

"We need the fucking points!" I shouted. "If you get your ass killed one more time we're tied! Just go to the square and kill them first to get the points then go on your fucking suicide mission."

He said something along the line of 'fuck you' or 'stupid bitch' or something, which was drowned out by another list of profanities following him getting sniped in the head.

"Stupid fuck." I muttered.

The couch shifted beneath me as someone sat down. I looked over quickly, not expecting anyone to come in, or at least someone I didn't hear or see first. It was Edward though. Edward who I haven't seen in forever.

"I was away." He said after a while, as if reading my mind. I turned back to the game. "That job we were talking about at dinner a few nights ago, I had to stake few place out. Took longer than I thought. I ran into some . . . complications."

"I'm going to the roof." I said to the head phone, moving my guy up some stairs and killing the guy in the house to take his sniper.

"I would have told you," Edward said, assuming correctly that I was only pretending not to be listening to every single word he said. "It's just that I didn't really think you would care if I was gone or not."

"What if you died, Edward." I said after a while.

"Then I would come back to life in two seconds." Said the shit headed kid from the game. Oh that just fit perfectly . . . his name was Edward too.

"I'm not talking to you, dumb fuck." I snapped.

"Well I'm pretty sure you just directed that question to me. . ." Edward said slowly, confused. The real Edward, the one sitting next to me I mean.

I groaned and tore the head phones off of my head and paused the game. I looked at Edward fully now. "What if you died, Edward, by some strange thing, you got shot in the head and you died."

"Honestly Bella, I doubt you would care." He didn't say it like it hurt him, but maybe he was just good at hiding it. I, on the other hand, was hurt.

More hurt in the sense of what was wrong with me. Because I knew for a fact that I would care if he died, I really would.

"You're an asshole, Cullen." I sighed, picking the controller back up. "But—I'd at least like to say bye or something."

And I saw him smile out of the corner of my eye and I swear, something felt good inside of me, something felt really good.

But then it was gone and I was back in the game and reality was back. But I had felt it, and I knew I did, and it scared me half to death. Because I couldn't feel anything for this guy or else it would be the end of me.

"Can I play?" he asked finally, moving to the closet to grab a remote before I could answer. "I had no idea you played, would have gotten you in here sooner."

He was smiling as he walked back, setting his remote up. And then suddenly he was sitting next to me and we were playing live multiplayer and it was casual, it was fun, it was natural. And I didn't hate him for a little while, and it felt great. Because I realized, shockingly, that it was so much more relaxing, so much more easier, to like him, rather than hate every single thing about him.

I joked with him. I laughed. I yelled at the other players online like I had before, Edward joined in, and it was funny to see him get so intense about the game, and move around with the remote as he swiveled and shot and killed. I'll admit, I watched him more than was polite.

How long did we sit there and play a fucking video game? I don't know. I just know it felt good and I didn't really think of anything for a while and it felt so, so freeing.

But the batteries died in my remote, half way through a game, and Edwards followed a few seconds later. We sat there, staring at the screen.

Things got heavy on my shoulders again in the silence that followed and I nervously peeked over at Edward.

"Yeah." He said quietly, nodding in agreement.

We both knew it. We both had different feelings about it. I, in this moment, was horrified. But before? Before I was amazed, in wonder, and it felt fan-fucking-tastic.

"I'm kinda hungry—"

"Want some dinner—"

We both paused, and smiled, before standing up. It was sinking in again that I should hate him, and the fact that we said practically the same thing at the same time shouldn't give me all these ticklish butterflies in my stomach. But I also like how it felt and wanted to feel it as much as possible.

He waited, allowing me to go first, and I did, feeling the hatred sink into me and through me like an infection. A sickness. As I walked, I frowned, and frowned deeper, and then that happy feeling was gone, like it had never been there, and I felt empty and cold and full of hate and . . . it was heavy and thick and I didn't like it. I realized now that really, honestly, I hated hating him.

I moved through the rooms, never ever taking freedom for granted ever again, and to the kitchen.

But someone was already in there.

Two people actually.

There was a moment of confusion where I tried to identify the people standing there, laughing, smiling. A man. Jasper. I could see the scars running up his forearms, peculiar scars. He seemed so much calmer, more approachable, when he smiled. But I was looking at the tiny girl in front of him, in-between his extended arms, looking back up at him and smiling, laughing with him, staring at him as if he were a god.

They were making a sandwich, his hands on top of hers and guiding her around to making it. So close to each other. So happy.

"Alice?" I called quietly.

And it was like I dropped a glass and the entire image shattered.

Alice's head moved slowly over to me, all casual like, as if she didn't recognize my voice. But she saw me, and she did recognize me. I didn't even see Jasper anymore, just saw Alice, saw the Alice I knew come back into reality and she only paused for one moment to look at me, to let her eyes scan me over and make sure I was real just like I was doing to her before she broke out of Jaspers embrace.

And there was only a short distance between us, but it felt like forever as her tiny little pixie body ran to me and threw her arms around me.

There were no words, no sound. It was just me, and my best friend who I had been separated from for over two months and we were back together again.

I hadn't realized how much I was holding in, how much I had boxed myself in, until I was hugging her back and I could feel the corners of my eyes stinging with tears. And the past few days felt so unreal, so unnatural, but Alice felt real, and I knew when I saw Rose, she would feel real too.

"Nice to see you again Alice." I mumbled into her shoulder, hugging her tighter.

She laughed, sniffling, and realized she had been unable to hold back her own tears and was soaking the shoulder of my shirt. "I missed you and Rose so much." She hiccupped.

"It all seemed a bit fake, didn't it?" I asked, to see if it was just me.

"Yea, a little bit. Bella, my closet was the size of my bedroom in Forks. And it was filled with clothes." And we were laughing now, just laughing like we were having a sleep over and everything was natural and alright.

"I'm getting married." I blurted out, unable to stop it. It just felt like some big pressure inside of me that needed to be let out. I tensed, waiting to see what she would do. I knew she was engaged too, I just didn't know how she felt about it, or how she would react.

She pulled away from me and for a moment I was so scared I could hardly breathe. But she was holding out her hand, I saw, and resting delicately on her tiny little finger was a ring as big as mine. "We're going to be sisters." She said. And she was smiling and blushing and tears were staining her cheeks and her eyes were puffy and red.

That was my Alice.

I looked around the room quickly, feeling a pang inside of me once I saw that Jasper and Edward had left us alone, and looked back at Alice.

"You seemed really happy." I said non accusatory, but secretly I was. I couldn't' help it. My hatred spread through the entire family. Except for Esme.

She nodded and smiled wider. "I don't know what's happening to me, Bella." She said, swallowing and moving back so she could hop up and sit on the counter. I stood where I was. "I know I should hate him, I really should. He kidnapped me and locked me in a room. But he was so sweet, and nice. And he talked to me and he listened to me. He told me so many things about himself that I just know he hasn't told anyone else and I've told him things that I only tell you and Rose. I don't know what I'm feeling, Bella, but I can't control it and I just can't bring myself to hate him."

I forced myself to smile and nodded, as if I were agreeing with her. But she wasn't my best friend for nothing. She saw right through me. "You don't feel the same way about Edward?"

My smile slowly, but surely faded away. "I guess a little."I admitted quietly. "He's just so full of himself. And he has such a sense of entitlement, probably comes with the fact he's a rich criminal."

I could feel it building inside of me, waiting to explode. And I couldn't hold it in anymore and suddenly I was pouring everything out, right onto Alice. "He just makes me so angry!" I shouted. She didn't jump or flinch, as if she were expecting this. "He makes me want to hit people and I never, ever never hit people, Alice. Ever! But at the same time, he makes this little fuzzy feeling come out from my stomach, like a billion tiny little butterflies, and sometimes, the way he looks at me . . . I'm so confused, Alice, because I know I hate him, I know I really do. But there are moments where I don't There are just a few minutes every day where it felt normal, and I felt happy, happy around him, and it was good. But I hate him. And I don't know what to do because apparently I'm spending the rest of my life with a man I despise yet don't at the same time."

I stood there, head throbbing, looking down at my feet. "Does he turn you on?" Alice asked finally, causing me to look up sharply.

"What?"

"Does he make you horny?" she asked more slowly.

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?"

She sighed and hopped down from the counter. "I was unsure of Jasper until he came into my room one night with supper, and he had on this button down shirt and jeans and some sexy white shoes, and I looked at him and realized I was as turned on as fuck and I wanted this man in my pants in half a second, and I wouldn't regret it in any way."

I stared at her, open mouthed, horrified.

"That's when I figured out he was alright." She concluded.

I stared at her for a moment longer, realizing I was crazy for even thinking about what she said, wondering if I ever felt that way with Edward. "You are such a little pixie whore." I said finally, and she laughed, punching me lightly in the arm.

"Come on, let's eat some food."

And she was grabbing my arm and pulling me towards the sandwich she had been making with Jasper, and I remembered so clearly how happy she looked, how blissful, and I couldn't stop smiling for some reason.

"Oh, yes, and don't let us forget." Alice said suddenly, moving next to the fridge and opening the cabinet beneath the counter to the left of it. She reached in, pulled something out, and turned back to me, smiling. "Let's celebrate."

I looked at the bottle of vodka in her hand and then back up at her.

And I smiled.

….

"Ya know what I want?" I slurred, bumping into Alice as we moved around the living room, swaying to the music we put on the television.

"What?" Alice asked, turning to me and stopping me with her hands. "You can tell me anything, Bella."

But then her eyes unfocused and turned glazy and she stumbled to the side. I laughed and held onto the couch for support. "What I want is a nice bikini."

"A bikini?" Alice hiccupped, moving around the couch to get her drink. "I want a nice sexy edible underwear. You think Jasper'll like that?"

"Ew!" I squealed, aiming a slap at her but then there were suddenly three of her and I had to grab the couch again before I fell over. "You have never even had sex before and you're all ready thinking about what kinky shit you're gunna do for your fiancé!'

"Got to keep the husband happy." She said, taking a swig and wincing before placing it on the coffee table again. "Well, fiancé. But he makes me so horny, Bella. I just want to jump his bones and ride him home."

I giggled and pulled myself over the back of the couch and collapsed onto the cushions, relaxing into them. "I had this dream the other night." I admitted, hiccupping. Alice stumbled over and fell onto the opposite end of the couch, placing her feet right by my head.

"About you're special little man?"

"Yessir." I gulped. "We were getting down and dirty and then I woke up and threw up in the toilet."

I giggled, and then it formed into an all out laugh, which I couldn't stop. Alice hit my leg a few times to get me back to reality, but for some reason I thought I was hilarious.

"Do you know where Rose is?" I asked suddenly, sitting up and using my arm as a support.

"She's eating dinner with Emmett and the rest of the family. I'm eating with them tomorrow." She mumbled, closing her eyes and snuggling back further into the couch. "Was it scary?"

"Yea." I admitted.

"How scary?"

"Really really scary."

"Did anyone pull out a gun?"

"Once or twice."

Someone die?"

"Not anyone important."

"Did you get shot?"

"Nothing too fatal."

"Was the food good?"

"No."

"I'm excited."

"I kinda was too."

I laid back down and stared at the white ceiling. "Are we going to be alright, Alice?"

"What do you mean."

"Like you, me and Rose. Is everything going to be alright with us?"

Alice didn't answer right away. I lifted my head and looked at her. She had passed out and was gurgling in her sleep.

I sighed and laid back down.

"Bella?" I sat up quickly and my head spun dangerously before it slowed so I could see Edward, staring at me all concerned like in the doorway. "What's going on?"

I looked quickly at the alcohol spread out on the table (we found some variety in other cabinets . . .) and I scrambled to my feet. I grabbed the four or five bottles and stumbled behind the couch, placing them lightly on the ground before tiptoeing back around the couch and standing in front of the table.

"Nothing." I said innocently, only my words slurred and morphed together and sounded funny. I could tell he had seen me hide the alcohol, considering he was looking more and more concerned and angry and amused and concerned.

"You're drunk." He said simply, looking over to Alice. "Jasper is going to kill me."

"Oh no!" I shouted, covering my mouth lightly with my hands. "Should you leave the country? Do you have a passport I heard it takes a while to get one. Don't get a bad picture, either. I got one once because I went to Mexico and I had a really bad picture and they wouldn't retake it and I couldn't smile and I looked ugly because I w as crying before because I tripped when I went inside and I hit my leg and tore it open and it was bleeding and I was seven and it hurt."

He looked at me carefully and stepped into the room, and looked at Alice again too. "Come on. Let's get you back to your room."

I stared at him for a minute, my mind moving at an impossibly slow rate. "I don't want to have sex with you." I said, taking a step back. Edward froze for a minute, eyes wide and horrified, before they softened and he was chuckling.

"You're too funny, Bella. You're just going to go to bed, alright? Come on, we're not having sex." He held his hand out and I looked at it before looking at the passed out Alice. "Jasper will take care of her, don't worry."

And I looked back at him and took one of the three hands I saw. I don't know if it was because I was so completely drunk or maybe I was crazy, but I swear I felt something warm shoot up my arm and through every part of me.

"You feel fuzzy." I muttered, looking at my feet shyly.

"Wow." Edward sighed, leading me through the room and out the door. "You feel fuzzy too."

I giggled and hopped to his side, since he had been pulling me forward and I was behind him. "I've been thinking about some things, Edward." I said, and looked at him.

"Yea?"

"Yea. And, um, I hate you."

He looked at me quickly, and then back forward.

"Um, yea, but I like you lots and lots too."

And when he looked back at me, he looked for a lot longer than last time before looking away again.

"Because you're really nice and you're an asshole and I think that's what I need, you know? A solid jerk. And you're hot. Like really hot, burn my sox off sexy. That's a plus." I was smiling dumbly and staring at his face. "You're really pretty, Edward."

I watched him swallow and his lips twitched, as if he were trying not to smile.

"I want to touch your hair." I said suddenly, lifting my free hand up, which Edward ducked, shocked.

"What?"

"I said I wan tot touch your hair, Edward. Take a chill pill. Like a maximum strength. Two or three. I took three chill pills once and I was passed out the entire night." I let out a breathy laugh as Edward paused and looked me deep in the eyes.

"You can touch my hair when you're sober." He said.

"Why can't I do it now?"

"Because when you're sober you're not going to want to do it." He snapped.

I laughed and hit him in the arm. I looked down and we were still holding hands. "You feel fuzzy."

"I know." Edward sighed. "You already said that."

But I swear I felt him squeeze my hand tighter. The dining room was empty, and we were moving through the hallways and past the rooms.

"Can you tell Rose I'll sex her tomorrow?" I asked Edward, and then widened my eyes before snorting spit everywhere. "I meant see. I'll see Edward tomorrow. No, wait I meant Rose. I'll see Rose Thursday. Tomorrow. Tell- tell- wait, who are you telling? What are you telling them?"

"For the love of god." Edward moaned, pushing my door open and leading me over to my bed, puling the covers back and I crawled in like a sad little child.

"Edward?" I called as he moved to turn away. He paused and then turned back, look weary. I reached up and grabbed either side of his face and pulled him down to me, kissing him fiercely. He didn't respond, he was frozen, he did nothing, until I pulled him away and hiccupped, then coughed, and laid back down. "I'm getting some pretty good vibes from you." I said smelling mischievously and wagging a finger at him before I closed my eyes.

He was standing there, staring at me, eyes wide and lips spread and a hand half way in the air, like he wanted to touch me but he wasn't.

"Good night Bella." He said quietly.

"Good night." I mumbled.

And he was leaving the room and I was asleep before he even closed the door.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: I'm so glad you all liked my drunk Bella! Haha this chapter is a bit different. There's some action going on. I hope you still like it afterwards and please review, because they make me happy.**

**Thanks!**

**Justalil'obsessed**

"You're not buying me a _house_, Edward!"

The car was big, had a lot of space, but being in that same space with the Cullen Family for more than an hour decreased it to a claustrophobic area. I felt like I couldn't breathe.

The penitentiary where my mother was being held was on the other side of the country, go figure. We just needed to get to the airport, fly over to Virginia on their private jet (yea, a private jet) and then drive another two hours to the prison, give my mom a ride back to the plane, fly her back to Washington and set up her ID and a place to live and her job and what not.

Easy Peasy.

It was all very exciting, don't get me wrong.

But I was also so nervous that I thought I might pass out any second now.

But Edward had decided, amid the awkward silence within the car, as I sat next to him in the back seat with Seth driving and another guard in the passenger seat, that we should discuss school related matters.

The first thing he laid down were rules.

Like I was five years old.

He would pick me up and drop me off every morning and afternoon

He would escort me to any parties or dances I wished to attend, or at the very least have two or three guards at my sides at all times

He'd have a guard outside the school at all times

He'd have a guard shadow me through the school at all times

If I came to a point where school stressed me out too much, he reserved the right to pull me out

If my grade dropped below a C average, he reserved the right to pull me out

If I wished to join any sports teams, I had to consult him and I had to make sure I had guards with me at all times

Same goes for clubs

I had to text him during lunch to tell him I was aright

Now honestly, how did he expect me to react to this?

I started off by telling him to fuck himself. I could get the dropping me off in the morning, since he was a clingy son of a bitch, but picking me up? If I was going to hide the fact I was engaged to this lunatic, then it might help if he, you know, didn't show up in his eighty thousand dollar car with tinted windshields and bullet proof glass.

Another thing that was not going to happen was me carrying him on my arm as he paraded me around any parties I wanted to go to. If I ever decided to go to a party, then it would be without him because I would only go to get away from him in the first place.

I would not have guards shadowing me around the school.

I would not have them waiting outside.

I would not have them spying on me every second of every god forsaken day.

I wanted to feel slightly normal, for crying out loud.

So After me screaming at him for several minutes, and after he got a severe migraine I'm assuming, he relented on the guards shadowing me, but convinced me to let them stay outside the school by reminding me people would want me dead very soon. Kind of made a girl feel special, right?

He wouldn't back down on the dropping me off and picking me up thing, though. Which pissed me off.

So.

That brought us to now, when I was crossing my arms over my chest and pouting and fuming, he deiced to bring up the dandy little fact that he was buying an entire house right by the school for me.

"Edward, just rent a place out for crying out loud. It's a tourist town, there has to be places for rent. I lived there for crying out loud I _know_ there are places for rent!"

Edward sighed and squeezed the bridge of his nose, as if trying to shrug off a painful ache. "Bella, please." He groaned. "It's not even that expensive. It's very rustic, very run down. But by the end of the week the guys I hired will have it nice and cleaned up and you can even decorate it any way you want."

"Edward, for fucks sake what are you not understanding here?" I looked at him with eyebrows raised. "I don't want you spending a couple hundred thousand dollars on me. On a house. On anything, actually—"

"Then you're not going to want to know how much the ring cost, huh?" he cut me off, smiling.

"No, Edward. No I don't." maybe it was my tone that wiped the smile off of his face, but I liked to think it was the look I gave him. "All I need is a room to put my clothes in and sleep. That's it. Not an entire house."

"Well, I figured since Rosalie, Emmet, Jasper, Alice, You and I, and Carlisle, Esme Seth James and three other guards are going to be living there as well, it might be easier to just buy a house an d build some addition on it."

There was a long, very strained pause, after he shut up, in which I could feel Seth's eyes nervously glancing back at me through the rearview mirror. "Are you kidding me?" I asked quietly.

He shook his head. "I figured you'd want to be with your friends."

"Yes, Edward I want to be with my friends." I agreed, nodding enthusiastically. "But not you and your brothers and your parents and body guards who all have guns!"

Edward sighed again. "Well there was no doubt we couldn't separate you three." He explained. "But I did not want to leave you alone in a house where I could not protect you if needed. Emmet felt the same for Rose, so did Jasper for Alice. Carlisle would like to stay with his sons since we are the men to take over the business soon and communication will be easier with us together. Esme hates to leave his side so she will come as well. And the guards are there for our protection. If it helps as all, I brought the fewest amount possible to still be safe."

I had stopped listening to him half way through his spiel, but he didn't seem to notice.

Alice and Rose were in the two black sedans following behind us, and would be sitting with me on the plane. I was supposed to go alone, but I convinced Edward to let me have Rose and Alice come along too for mental support or else I might just have a mental breakdown. Of course that meant Emmett and Jasper were coming as well.

"Bella." Edward called, trying to grab my attention from the window. "Bella, you're being ridiculous."

"Shut up Edward." I snapped, still not looking at him.

"Bella look at me." For whatever reason I glanced over at him, and his gaze was so piercing and strong and held so much emotion that I just couldn't look away. "You have to stop acting like every little thing I do is making the world fall apart. I bought a house for you to stay at while you attend school. But I'm also a millionaire. I will listen to your opinion, I will listen to you bitch about certain things, but ultimately, this expensive shit I buy for you puts no dent in my wallet at any time."

I frowned and stared him down, losing when I had to look away. "Fine." I pouted, looking back out the window.

I felt his hand on my knee and I looked over at him, shocked. He had refused to come close to me ever since the night I got drunk, which made me nervous as hell, so this was… odd. It surprisingly made me feel warm.

"Hey." He said softly. "It's going to be okay. We're seeing your mom tonight. She's going to be with you for the rest of your life. This should be a happy day. For both of us."

"Why both of us?" I asked quietly, really only paying attention to the way he rubbed his thumb against my leg.

"Because what makes you happy makes me happy." He answered honestly, smiling that crooked smile that sent my heart racing.

I swallowed thickly and nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry."

"No need to be. I know you're temperamental. It's what I like about you." And he winked which just about made me shit my pants.

We got to the hanger where his jet was surprisingly fast, but I had to wait in the car for five minutes while Seth and the guy next to him scouted the area around us. But once it was clear, I got out, stood beside Alice and Rose, and together we entered the plane.

It was like a fucking hotel in the air. They had chefs bring us food the minute we hit maximum altitude. We got hot towels, six flat screens, and the comfiest chairs I think I have ever sat in. Alice sat across a table from me, and Rose was to my side, holding my hand since for some reason she knew I was near mental breakdown.

But give me a break. The last time I saw my mom was in court when she told me never to see her again.

"What if she doesn't want to see me?" I asked aloud, not really directing it to one person, but hoping someone would answer it.

"She didn't want you to see her in prison." Alice chimed in instantly.

"Yea. That has to be the most embarrassing thing for a mother." Rose added. "But I bet you she thinks about you every day, and wishes constantly for a day like today to happen. To see you again, Bella."

I nodded my head, but I couldn't fully believe them.

"Remember when we all came over your house a week before Christmas?" Alice asked.

Rose chuckled next to me, remembering before I could. "Oh yea. And your mom tried to make sugar cookies but they got burnt so she tried to make them in the toaster oven and the kitchen caught on fire and the fire department had to come."

By this time they were laughing, trying not to, but unable to hold it back. And I couldn't help but laugh too. We needed new cabinets for the entire left side of our kitchen. My mom was mortified. When it caught on fire she just screamed and ran around the kitchen twice before shuffling us out of the house.

"She's a horrible cook." I giggled, wiping a tear from my eye.

"No, no, remember that cereal she made us one morning?" Alice asked. "That was the best cereal I've ever had."

And we were laughing all over again. And it felt normal. Except for the fact that I could feel Rose's ring against my hand, and see Alice's resting on her finger.

That was definitely different.

I sighed and leaned back in my chair, casually looking over my shoulder at the boys in the back of the plane, playing some sort of card game with a load of cash stacked in the middle of a table. Figured. Looked like hundred dollar bills too, the rich bastards.

"I think I'm falling for him." I said quietly, suddenly, unable to look away from him as he smiled and laughed and aimed a friendly punch at his brother.

"I figured it'd happen sooner or later." Rose said soothingly, rubbing the top of my hand.

"I don't want to like him though."

"I didn't want to like Jasper."

"I _definitely_ didn't want to like Emmett."

"They just have this way about them." I sighed. "Like they know exactly what to say or do or think."

They nodded in agreement next to me as Edward sensed my stare and turned around, waving at me lightly before I could turn around, blushing furiously from getting caught ogling that god.

"Last night Emmett gave me a snow globe of Italy." Rose said, sighing deeply and leaning back, relaxed, into her chair. "He somehow knew that I've always wanted to go since I was a little girl. But he gave it to me last night and he said that we couldn't go now, not while things were so shaky, but the snow globe was a promise of a weekend that would leave me breathless."

I watched her as she sighed again and smiled, like her mind was somewhere else, her heart steadily moving towards Emmett.

"When Jasper proposed," Alice said, turning out attention to her across the table. "He got down on one knee and promised me everything I could ever want. He told me that my needs far exceeded his, that he would always be worshipping the ground I walked on, and kissing the air I breathed. And he kissed me and it felt like my world exploded."

She sat still, blushing, as if she hadn't meant to tell us the kissing part, but was unable to stop herself. "You kissed him?" I asked, shocked.

"Well, he kissed me. And then I might have participated." She blushed deeper, but was smiling.

"I kissed Emmett way before we got engaged." Rose said, looking down at her hands. "He's got some sexy animalistic magnetism to him. I can't stay away." She giggled and I blushed for her, for the both of us. And I thought Edward and I had been moving too fast. Maybe we weren't moving fast enough at all.

"I'm gunna sleep, you guys." I said, standing up. "I didn't get any at all last night." Rose and Alice gave me a sympathetic look as I moved by them, through the large room that housed the chairs and the mini bar. I passed Edward, who watched me intently as I left the room and entered the connecting room in the way back of the plane. It was a small bedroom, in case anyone on the plane had wanted to sleep. It had a queen bed and some pull out couches along the wall.

I flipped the light off and curled underneath the blankets, closing my eyes.

And then suddenly I was standing in front of Edward.

He stood just out of reach, smiling. And his shirt, where was his shirt? My eyes scanned over his incredibly toned chest, down to the V that led down down down, to some hidden treat. I swallowed and looked back up at him.

We were in the middle of a meadow. It was dark out, only the moon lighting the entire place. But I could see him clearly, thank god. I reached my hand out to touch him, wanting to feel him, but he stepped back.

"Edward." I whined, stepping forward, reaching.

"Bella." He whispered back. And he was suddenly gone, disappeared, out of sight. My heart dropped to my feet as I looked around at where he had been, where he had been smiling and teasing me, but he was gone and all I could see were flowers.

And then a breath ghosted across my neck, raising the hairs on my arms. "Kiss me." He whispered, speaking to me, through me, into me.

And I turned around and I was in his arms, holding me up and my fingers threading through his hair. It was so soft, thick. And his lips were so close to mine, smiling, so close, closer. His body, pressed against mine, his lips, so close, and his breath, ghosting across my face.

I woke up gasping and panting, holding my hand to my chest, my forehead covered in a cold sweat.

"Were you dreaming about me?" I gasped and looked towards the door, where Edward was smirking cockily. "You said my name all sexy like." He clarified.

I blushed furiously and tried to untangle the sheets from my legs. "Don't flatter yourself, Edward." I snapped, but my voice broke. I cursed quietly.

"No, no, I think you were dreaming of me." He said, unwilling to back down. "That's fine, because I have all sorts of dreams about you."

Suddenly the room seems a little too small.

"Are we almost there?" I asked, my voicing small and squeaky. Edward chuckled and pushed himself away from the wall.

"I came in here to wake you up." Edward said, moving back towards the body of the plane. "We're landing in five."

I rubbed my face with my hands, shaking the dream off of me. Edward had left, and I looked around the room quickly before hopping out of bed. I liked sleeping without pants so . . . yea didn't want Edward catching anything he didn't deserve to see you know.

I sat down beside Rose, across from Alice. It didn't look like they had moved at all.

"Almost there." Alice whispered quietly, smiling. Rose took my hand and squeezed it. I glanced over at her and smiled.

"I'm okay now you guys." I lied. "I just can't wait to see her."

They saw straight through me, judging by the way Alice gave me a pout and a curious glance to Alice, who looked back at her the same way while squeezing my hand again.

I could feel the plane descend, my ears first ringing, and then popping painfully. We landed smoothly enough, but I hated flying one way or another so I kept thinking it'd crash, that a wheel would give out or we'd get hit by a flock of seagulls and flip and crash and blow up into a thousand pieces.

But of course we didn't since obviously I'm still here.

It landed with a bump and a squeal of the tires that led us into the hanger, where we were escorted off and promptly brought to a set of cars.

"Edward, I feel like I'm being shipped to a maximum security prison for shits sake." I complained as he led me through the hanger with his hand pushing lightly on the small of my back.

"Bella, please, this was last minute. She was released sooner than we thought so we couldn't have scoped the place out as best as we could have." Edward explained, sitting next to me in the back of the car, surrounded by tinted windows.

I snorted and looked out the window, at the trees we drove past. "Am I going to be able to get out of the car to see her?"

"Of course." He answered instantly. I let out a breath I hadn't known I was holding. "We're going to a prison, Bella. It's one of the safest places for us."

That wiped the smile clean off of my face.

It was warm out today. The sky was blue, not cloudless, but still beautiful. The sun seemed too bright, almost blinding, but I stared at it through the windows and watched it as we twisted around corners, exited and entered the highway, passed by other cars.

"I've never been over here before." I said after a while, what must have been at least an hour.

"You're going to go everywhere." Edward said, resting his hand on my knee again. I didn't mind so much. He wasn't doing it in any sexual way at all. He was doing it as a friendly gesture, a calming move to try to relax me. And to be honest it worked. I felt my muscles relax, if only a little. They wouldn't completely unclench, I knew they wouldn't no matter what anyone did, but he helped.

Edward Cullen helped.

Such an odd thing to think. An odd sentence. Never figured I'd put those words together like that. But it did. Edwards Cullen helped me relax.

I looked over at him and I even smiled. He was already looking at me, staring as if he could never look away. He smiled back and my heart skipped a beat.

"I've wanted to lie on my back," I said, looking away and staring up at the tinted brown sky. "In the middle of a green field in Scotland since I was a little girl. I saw a picture in a magazine once. I wanted to see the stars there, right next to a big lake, where I could put my fingers in the water and I could get the chill from it. And I wanted to spend hours there, just counting the stars until I couldn't count anymore. Just let everything slip away into the night time around me, and stare at the moon until it got as big as the world."

I sighed and placed my hand, almost without my doing so, on top of the hand that rested on my leg. He tensed for minute, I felt it, almost as if he were surprised that I had done something like that.

"And my mom told me about the ocean one time." I continued. "I see it all the time whenever I went down to La Push with Jacob or any of that crowd. But she told me stories of these big ships, like in the movies, and how when she was a kid my age now, she had gone on one with her mom and there was a storm, and it felt like the world was drowning, like the water was engulfing everything and the rain was destroying and plummeting down onto her like it was weeping, sobbing, in so much agony. And the boat was turning and sagging and twisting and she thought she was done for, she was going to die. She told me she felt the world in its rawest state, felt it at the seams, tearing and ripping. And she said she had never been so exhilarated in her entire life."

I rubbed the seam of my pants with my other hand, still not looking at him. "Anyways, I wanted to feel that since she told me. I wanted to feel the world, feel the edges of it, feel it tremble and shake and threaten to shatter. I wanted that feeling so I knew that my entire life wasn't that. So I knew that when I felt the lowest of the low, that in fact the world was not tearing and turning and ripping. That I was okay. It was going to be okay."

His hand was getting tighter on my leg, not uncomfortable. Just telling me he was there.

"And when we took those cars." I said, my voice getting all thick and heavy. "I felt powerful. And I was in control. We took the car, we controlled the car. It was someone else's, they held the key, they had driven it their entire life. And we could just snatch it away and it was ours. And I remember my mom, and she was so sad whenever we drove the highway to get to the meeting place, she'd just sit still and look out the window while I'd cheer, and stick my head out the window and feel the wind hit my face and know nothing else could beat the feeling.

"And I missed her. The minute they took her away, the minute I turned back this one time and there were one, two, five, six cop cars chasing us and I looked back at my mom. And just by looking at her I knew they were after us. And she was looking in the rearview mirror and then back at me and back at them. And there was a moment where the car went fast. There was a moment when her foot hit the car as fast as it would go and we would have lost them, Edward. We had the good car. My mom was the best. We would have lost them. And my mom lets go of the gas. And pulls right over, on the side of a highway, and we are surrounded by cops.

"And my mom, she turns to me and she's crying and the tears are falling down the side of her face and she grabs the side of my face. Her hand could cover the length of my face, and she seemed to engulf me. And she looks at me, right in the eye, and she just stares at me. And she says to me 'the good guys finally caught us, huh? Guess that makes me the bad guy.' And she leans over real fast and kisses me right on my forehead, right between my eyes, before she sniffs and wipes her cheeks and she leaves the car with her arms raised.

"And this guy grabs me, with big arms, and pulls me away from her and I'm screaming so loud, as loud as I can. And I felt it. I felt it then. I felt the world tear. I saw it rip part and tear as she was thrown down on the hood of the car and she was cuffed and she wouldn't look at me when she was put in the cop car, wouldn't look back at me. But I could scream. And I did scream. They tried to quiet me, but I just screamed and screamed and screamed because my world had torn and all I felt was like I was falling. And nothing was stopping me."

I swallowed thickly and wiped my eye before chuckling to myself. "It's all so silly." I sighed. "But I missed her so much, Edward."

And I looked over at him now, actually looked at him.

"Thank you. Thank you so much." I whisper.

And he's staring at me so hard I just know he's thinking of something, but he isn't giving it away, and I can't take anything out of that look. He only nods once, quickly, curtly, and just looks at me like he's seeing me all over again.

I don't know why I said all those things. Maybe stress, maybe the new air. But I said it, and it was done, and he was still here, still holding on to me, still telling me he wasn't leaving yet.

I smiled.

….

There was a long process to go through when we got to the prison, papers to sign, ID's to check. I felt comatose, sitting on a bench outside the prison, staring through the grid lock fence, looking into the brick building, willing the two large metal doors to open.

Edward was somewhere, taking care of last minute things. Some guard was close by, always watching. The rest of the family was in the cars, waiting patiently until I needed emotional support in which they would gladly give me.

My heart was beating so fast it almost hurt, like it was hammering into me and my thoughts. I tried controlling it a while back, but that was impossible. There was no stopping it.

Every little sound, every intercom system blaring from inside the building made me jump, made me look to the door. But it was closed. It seemed as if it were staying closed.

I looked up at the guard tower, right beside the gate. I could see the guard, but he was busy looking my way, probably making sure that Seth and whoever else had been in the passenger seat weren't about to kill me or something.

There were really real false alarms too, like when a man walks out because he's freed, and I watch them in their black jackets squint at the sun as if they are really seeing it for the first time. Maybe they are. I've seen two guys leave. One man had a wife and a little girl waiting for them, and the girl screamed and jumped into his arms when he came out. The wife just cried.

The other guy walked down the sidewalk, alone, to the bus stop. I watched him board the bus, watched him pause before stepping up the stairs and take another hard look at the prison before the bus pulled away. Maybe for people like him, prison was the safest place, because everything was done for you, everything was safe.

Outside of there, you had to do things on your own.

I sighed and folded my hands in my lap, then rested them on the bench, then folded them and began twiddling my thumbs together. I bit my thumb nail, tucked and un-tucked my hair from behind my ear, twitched and jumped at every noise.

But the doors did open.

For a third time.

How did I know this was it? How could I have possibly known, without seeing her body at all, that this was it?

I don't know. Because she was my mom, I guess.

I was on my feet, my heart exploding in my chest, roaring through my ears. I felt as if I could hear everything, yet nothing. I could hear the gate creak, and hear Seth breathe and the guy next to him shift. I could hear the engine of the cars behind me, the highway down the road, the inmates yelling in the courtyard behind the big brick wall.

Yet I wasn't listening to any of it. It was just noise, floating around, passing through one ear and out the other. All I really heard was my heart beat, and how impossibly fast it was going.

Because the gates were opening.

And opening.

And they were open.

And there she was—

My mom, standing there like some action figure—

And she looked up at the guard who opened the door from a panel in the tower and nodded her head.

And she walked out through the arch way and onto the pavement beneath me. She didn't see me, like I was a shadow from the bench, but I saw her, saw every bit of her.

Her hair was so much longer, to the middle of her back. It looked thinner, and there was definitely more gray. Her clothes hung from her body like some misshapen rag, her shoes, though, were clean and un-scuffed.

I looked her up and down, again and again.

This was real. I knew this was real. Yet I looked at her, and I felt it as a dream. Because this could only be that. A dream, way out on the horizon, untouchable. But she was real. This was real. My mom was there, walking towards me, looking down at her feet as she shuffled along.

"mom." I tried, but my voice was so small, lost in the air around me. I cleared my throat and wiped the sweat from my brow. "Mom."

And she heard me. Her head snapped up instantly, like she had been shocked, and her eyes found me without even taking a second to search. They found me, and locked in, and got as big as any eyes I have ever seen.

I worried, foolishly, stupidly I guess, that she wouldn't recognize me. It had been so long, anyways. But I knew in that moment that that fear was useless and stupid. Because I could see it right there, right in her eyes. She saw me, and she knew it was me, and everything was like it was.

Because she was my mom. And I was her daughter, and she wasn't locked behind bars in some prison.

"I finally caught you." I swallowed, breaking the silence with a strangled voice. "Guess that makes me the good guy, huh?"

Strained, rough silence followed and for a moment it seemed as if she would run screaming, like when she told me to not visit her anymore, she meant even when she got out, like she was ashamed of me, didn't like me anymore. Maybe I wasn't a good enough daughter, or friend, or side kick in crime.

But she blinked, and her eyes glittered, and I saw she was crying, she was actually crying. Which made me realize that I was, too. I was crying.

"My beautiful, beautiful girl." She whispered, looking me up and down, still in her same spot. Her voice sounded the same as I remembered it, as I heard it in every one of my dreams. "Oh my beautiful girl."

She looked back up and met my eyes and she smiled. And I smiled.

Because I saw now that it just wasn't me who had been waiting so many years for this moment, but her as well. She didn't hate me. She did want to see me.

She moved forward, a small movement, but I saw it. She wanted to come closer, to touch me, hug me, hold me. I felt the same.

But several things happened in a short amount of time that my brain had to replay it several times in order to understand.

The first thing was that Seth was shouting something. "Get down, down _down_!" he shouted, and I saw him running. I looked ore, and he was running towards _me_, another man running towards Renee.

"Seth?" I called out, surprised and confused.

But then the gun shot cracked through the air, breaking the silence, slicing through everything. The ground in front of my mom's feet popped up in a plume of tar and she screamed, shocked. But she was tackled by Seth's other guard.

And all I could do was stand still and look like an idiot. My mom was screaming and the guard was pulling her back, shooting over his shoulder. He pulled her towards the cars and Seth was running towards me, as if he were going to tackle me like the other kid did. But another shot, and another and another ripped through everything, and one was followed by a thud, and a grunt, and Seth flew back, the bullet ripping through the center of his shirt.

"Seth!" I screamed, covering my mouth.

What struck me the most, out of everything, was how loud it was. There were too may gun shots, coming from everywhere, it seemed. And people were screaming, and alarms were blaring, and people were falling. I wanted to cover my ears and crawl away, but I knew Seth had just been shot, and he was lying so still on the ground.

"Seth!" I yelled again, running towards him. There were rounds of shots, some hitting the ground by my feet. I felt one breeze by my arm and slice through my shirt sleeve before burning my skin. I hissed in pain and dove to the ground, crawling towards Seth before turning him over.

My hands were shaking as I ripped through the whole in his shirt. "There's no blood." I whispered, looking all around. "There should be blood."

I tore the shirt open and stared at his chest, at the vest that covered it and the bullet lodged in the armor. "Son of a bitch." I whispered. Seth's eyes were closed, and I could see now, past my panic, that he actually was breathing. Just unconscious. I'm guessing that would leave a scar.

I looked around me, trying to analyze something, anything. I saw so many people, or maybe it just seemed that way to me. I couldn't tell who was us and who was them, whoever 'them' was. But we had these guns out and shooting and people were getting hit and people were falling. I saw the guy in the tower, the one looking at me earlier, aiming his gun over here.

I felt the ground tremble by my hand where the bullet hit and I looked from there up to him again. "You've got to be kidding me." I whispered.

I rolled away, trying to get back behind a car, but those were way too far away now. I wouldn't make it without being shot, for sure. I looked around me, panicked. I had no idea what to do in these situations. Sure, maybe Emmett or Jasper or Edward did. They probably knew how to shoot someone from five hundred yard by the age of seven.

But I didn't know what t do, where to go, how to even shoot a fucking gun.

"Edward." I mumbled, looking around me. "Edward!"

I looked back up at the guy in the tower, but he had pitched forward and was falling over the railing and spinning through the air, down down down. I closed my eyes as he hit the ground, obviously having been shot. "Oh god."

I scrambled to my feet, needing to move not safe anywhere, having to get out, away from the noise and the screams. I could hear sirens now, screaming through the streets. Cops.

Crying from pure, outrageous fear, I sprinted across the lot, trying to get to the corner of the building, to try and get around it and to safety until the cops got everything under control and until Seth was okay, and everyone was alright.

But then I heard him.

He was screaming my name, and it hit me through all the noise, just his voice. I stumbled, and turned back, still running, but not so sure now. He was coming towards me, eyes wide and crazy and he was running so fast, so incredibly fast. But he was looking past me, over my shoulder, at something behind me.

And I was turning back now, looking and finding what he saw, staring at the man with the gun, how he looked at me an how he raised it and how it was me, only me, he wanted to shoot.

Things slowed down, almost comically.

I could see every strand of my hair pass over my face from running, from stumbling. I could hear every intake of breath, every gasp of air. His gun, his arm, moving so slow, as if he had to push it through the air.

And I had never been so . . . struck dumb in my entire life.

I wasn't scared or relaxed or stressed or calm. I wasn't mad or sad or upset. I wasn't anything. I was just a product of my surroundings, just a girl, in the pathway of a bullet, about to die.

I wasn't Bella Swan.

I was just a victim now.

No longer the abducted Forks resident, but the murdered daughter of Police chief Charlie Swan.

Something snaked around my waist, something strong and thick and I was pulled off of my feet. It felt as if someone hit me over the head with an iron rod, and I was snapped back into reality, and things picked up pace.

Edward was behind me, I knew his smell, and he was burying his face in my shoulder, ducking my head into him with his other arm, turning me around while I heard the man fire his gun. I don't know how I knew it was him form everyone else. I just knew it was him.

And I was falling to the ground, the minute I heard it. Edward grunted and we crashed to the gravel and I was trapped under his iron grip. I turned my head, panting, saw only a glimpse of the cops come running from their cars, screeching to a halt. I saw the man with the gun widen his eyes and drop his gun in surrender immediately.

But I could only focus on Edward, and the way he was breathing.

Using every ounce of strength I had, I pushed him off of me and onto his back and looked down at his face, scrunched up in pain. "Edward." I breathed, touching the side of the face. "Edward, where did it hit?"

And my voice broke, and he heard it, because his eyes opened and I could see the pain tear through him. "It's my arm." He spit out through his teeth.

I looked to the arm closest to me, then the other. Then I saw the blood, spotting only at first on his shirt sleeve, then staining it and spreading and pouring out. "Edward, oh god, Edward." I whispered, looking back over to him.

"It'll be fine." He panted. "It's just a flesh wound."

"Edward, it's bleeding so much, oh my god help! Help we need and ambulance!" I looked around me, crazy eyed, waving for paramedics to come over.

"Bella." Edward asked from below me, and I looked back down, the adrenaline coursing through me like fire, setting everything ablaze within me.

"Yea?"

He brought his hand up and cupped the back of my neck, bringing me down with the strength of his good arm and crashing his lips to mine.

He was still at first, his lips unmoving, as I sat in shock at what was happening.

And then I kissed him back.

I'm not sure why. I don't know why I kissed him back or why I panted into his mouth and hung onto his shirt like he was going to fall away, or how we kissed so hot it almost hurt my lips.

But it felt good. It felt really good.

He was pulled away from me by the paramedics and loaded onto a gurney. I sat on my ankles and looked up at him as he smiled down at me and winked. "See you in my hospital room?" he asked as they loaded him into an ambulance.

I nodded, slowly, struck by just how bad my hands were shaking.

But I wasn't too sure it was from the adrenaline.

…..

I found my mom by the bench I had been sitting at when I was waiting for her. I sat down silently beside her.

"Hey." I said quietly, looking at my hands.

"Hey." She said, even quieter. "Bella, what did you get yourself into?"

I swallowed thickly and looked up at her, looked into her eyes as she stared at me with concern and sadness.

"Nothing I wasn't all willing to get into." I lied easily, smiling. "It's just a bit more dangerous than I anticipated.

She smiled, but I could tell it wasn't real. "I missed you so much Bella." She whispered, reaching up to touch the side of my face. I smiled, because she felt real. "I thought of you every single day, of every hour, every minute. I always saw your beautiful face in everything."

"I missed you too, mom." I said quietly.

"But if you have done something to get me out that endangers your own life," she continued, her voice hardening. "Take it back. Please, Bella, take it back."

I smiled sadly and turned into her hand, still cupping my cheek. "I'm fine, mom. Everything is fine."

Because I could feel his lips on mine still, I could taste him, and it sent these tingles all through my body which electrified me, charged me. I think she saw it, too. "I'd never ask you to do anything to get me out, Bella, that could hurt you." She told me.

"I know, mom. I did it on my own."

She smiled again and leaned down to kiss my forehead. "I love you so much, Bella." She whispered against my forehead.

"I love you more."

She wrapped her arms around me to hug me, but I hissed in pain and pulled back, forgetting about the burn on my arm. My mom grabbed my shoulders and held me shoulder length away from her, staring at my face and my eyes and then looking over me until she saw my torn sleeve and the blood. She sighed, exaggerated, and pulled me to my feet.

"Come on, baby girl, you should have gone to the hospital with the other guys." She said, pulling me along behind her.

"I'm fine, mom." I complained, trying, and failing, to tug away from her. "It barely even hurts."

Which was a lie… it actually hurt like a fucker, burning and searing and bleeding all over me.

"Yea, okay Bella." She laughed. "It's good to see you're just as bad as lying now as you were before."

I laughed, and looked at the back of her head and she pulled me through the cops piled around, taking statements, and the detectives and forensic people, and under the police tape, past the crowd of people waiting around and watching what was going on.

I just stared at her, because she was here, and this was as real as it got.

I had my mom back.

And I can't remember ever being happier.

…..

There were three guards outside my room in the hospital. I was just going to be placed in the ER room, but somehow, since obviously I'm with the Cullen's now, someone pulled some strings and I have some big ass room just so a doctor can come in, clean my burn, put three stitches in it and put some gauze on top.

I tried to be as polite as possible to the doctor. I mean he was form the ER, and he had to walk half way across the hospital to look at my arm.

But no matter how many times I tried joking, or being serious, or smiling, he just got more and more moody. I understood, obviously. I mean, I wouldn't have even bothered coming to look at me. Stupid rich people, right?

The minute he left, however, I was on my feet, moving.

"Whoa, Bella, where do you think you're going?" Seth said, stopping me instantly right inside my door.

"Oh my god!" I shouted, looking up at him. "Seth! You're okay!"

He looked at me strangely and then back at the other men stationed outside my door. They were smiling, laughing, as I threw my arms around him and hugged him. "Um, yeah. I had a vest on. It only bruised a bit." He said, suddenly embarrassed.

"You don't get a day off or whatever?" I asked, trying to catch a look at the wound on his chest. I could see it sticking out beneath him, the padding I mean, where they bandaged whatever happened there.

"I don't really even know what I would do with a day off." Seth admitted, laughing as if it were funny. I kind of thought it was sad, but whatever.

"Where's Edward?" I asked after a while.

"Oh, he's down the hallway. Let me walk you." He grabbed my arm delicately, and upon scanning the hallway up and down, moved me swiftly from the room and to the opposite end of the hall.

It was obvious enough that that was Edwards room. I mean, there were literally three guards outside the door, and two more at the end of the hallway. I was even starting to suspect that the man dressed in black doing laps up and down the hallway wasn't a patient, either.

Seth knocked on the door.

"Yup." Someone called out quietly from inside. Seth stepped to the side, allowing me to open the door.

"Oh," I said, turning back to him for a second. "Could you just tell my mom to wait out in the waiting room for me? She just went down to the cafeteria to get some food. She should be back up here and looking for me soon."

He said he would, so I entered the door, closing it behind me.

Edward was lying on a bed, covered in a white blanket, wearing a hospital gown. I could see his arm covered in gauze and ace bandages, and he looked really pale, but he smiled when he saw me. "Bella, didn't expect to see you for a while."

I smiled and moved to the bed next to him, to get a closer look at the bandages. "Does it hurt?" I asked quietly.

"Not too much now. They gave me some pain killers. Feeling pretty good, actually." He laughed, joking, but I didn't really feel like laughing. He saw it too. "What's wrong?" he asked, placing his hand on the one I had resting on his mattress.

"It's just—" I paused and swallowed before shutting my eyes tightly. "I don't want you to feel like you have to jump in front of a bullet to save my life, Edward. I'm not that important. You obviously are, though. I have my mom out of jail. You're working on Charlie's debts. I'm happy, Edward. I don't need you getting shot in the head to save me, though."

I waited quietly, eyes still shut, but he remained silent. I opened my eyes. He was looking at me odd, a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

"You want to know something weird?" he asked after a long, strained silence. I nodded my head. "When I came out of the prison with all these papers I had just signed, I heard the gunshots. And I had been raised my entire life going through situations like these. I was raised to fight back, to shoot, to not panic. But then I heard gun shots, and this pain ripped through my chest, almost as if someone had just misfired and shot me through the chest. That's what I thought at first.

And then I realized it was panic. I had just never felt it before. And I dropped the papers and I was running out into the middle of this gun fight, without my gun. And do you know why, Bella?"

I stayed motionless, scared that I actually did know why. I just wasn't sure what to feel.

"Because you were out there." He said, his voice dropping, the smile slipping from his face. "You were out in the middle of that and I had never been so scared in my life. When I saw that man raise his gun, saw you running and you didn't even _see_ him—" he cut off, closing his eyes tightly as if he were in pain. Maybe his pills were wearing off. I didn't think so, though.

"I didn't think of myself, Bella. I didn't think of what I was doing or what I would do when I got to you. I just felt this horrible, horrible pain run through my entire body, like I was dying a thousand times over, and when I got to you, the gunshot that hit me felt like a mosquito bite compared to what I had been feeling. Because I felt you under me, in my arms, felt you breathing, alive."

I swallowed hard, staring him straight in the eye. I couldn't look away.

"Someone who can make me feel that way, make me so blind to every thought I had been raised to think, every action I had been taught to take, is worth saving, Bella."

He wasn't smiling anymore, but there was something in his eyes, something deep and hard.

"I'm really confused about things, Edward." I whispered, not even knowing what I was saying.

"I know. Me too."

"I don't know what to think. Or what to feel. I can't control this- this need, sometimes, to touch you or kiss you or be around you. But I get so mad, Edward, at these little things and all of that need just vanishes and it's like when I first met you. I'm- I'm really confused Edward."

It felt like there was no space between us now, like his hand, resting on top of mine, brought us so close together. I looked into his eyes, he looked into mine, but they were dropping to my lips.

"Can I kiss you?" he asked quietly.

I swallowed, and looked at his eyes, to his lips, to his eyes again. And I realized I wanted to kiss him too. I really wanted to kiss him, feel his lips against min the way I felt them a few hours ago. Because I liked the way they felt, the charge they gave me.

"So now you ask?" I joked weekly, trying to crack a smile but failing.

He smiled though.

And so I kissed him.


End file.
